Peasant Farmers Call For Law On Ranching

The President of the Peasant Farmers Association of Ghana (PFAG), Mr Mohammed Adam Nashiru, has called for the enactment of a ranching and practice law to regulate the activities of herdsmen in the country. He explained that the absence of ranching laws and practice in Ghana had brought about conflicts between farmers and herdsmen, cattle rustling, poisoning of grazing fields with weedicides and the frequent loss of cattle. That, he said, had resulted in the rampant conflicts between smallholder farmers and Fulani herdsmen in the country. He, therefore, appealed to the government to ensure that cattle ranching legislation was passed to give legal backing to ranching in the country to improve agribusiness. PFAG Forum Mr Nashiru was speaking at a media sensitisation forum organised by the PFAG in Tamale. The forum was aimed at educating the media and the public on the impact of the activities of herdsmen on the livelihood of peasant farmers and the national economy. He said the promulgation of the law, along with a regulatory body, would instil discipline and sanity in the business, as the activities of Fulani herdsmen could be monitored. Mr Nashiru said the law should empower metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) to ensure that all ranches in the various districts were properly registered, with the contact addresses of the herdsmen, taking into account the number of cattle in each ranch and the location of the ranch. The President of the Association of Farmers Apex Body of Ghana (APFOG), Alhaji Nashiru Kadri, said there was no specific law, both at the national and the district levels that regulated the activities of cattle rearing in the country.