Three (3) Ghanaian Universities together with the University of Copenhagen of Denmark have come together to find a lasting solution to the perennial deadly conflict between nomadic herdsmen and citizens of their host communities in the country.
At the launch of the project at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu Municipality of the Ashanti region, a Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, Dr. Sagre Bambangi, said government has constituted a national Committee to interact with all interest groups in the issue to identify the underlining factors of the conflicts toward a peaceful co-habitation among the herders and the local people.
Dr. Sagre Bambangi, also disclosed that apart from the establishment of a pilot Ranch in the Afram Plains North district as one of the strategies to deal with the issue, the establishment of the National Committee will bring out clearly all the major factors that caused the farmer-herder conflict for a head-on national solution.
The conflict between nomadic herdsmen commonly called Fulani herdsmen and their host communities in parts of the Ghana has lingered on for many years without any lasting solution despite various efforts to address it.
The problem keeps re-occurring in areas such as the Asante Akyem enclave particularly the Agogo area, Sekyere Afram Plains, Sekyere Central and Ejura-Sekyedumase in the Ashanti region where the herdsmen find conducive for grazing by their roaming cattle.
However, owners of the lands and farmers have intermittently clashed with these herdsmen and their animals for some alleged destructions caused by the cattle to crop farms, water sources and sometimes attacks on land owners.
It is reported that since 2008 when the conflict became very pronounced, many people have either been killed or maimed by the cattle rearers in areas such as Agogo, Drobonso and Nsuta alone with the cost of destruction to crop farms so high.
On the other hand, the herdsmen also complain that their hosts have been attacking them and their animals leading to deaths of both animals and their colleagues.
The resultant conflict has therefore assumed a national security dimension such that a temporary military base had to be established within the Asante Akyem North district to drive away the herders and their animals from the plains.
It is to find a lasting solution to promote a harmonious co-habitation among the two interest groups that three Ghanaian universities namely the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, KNUST, University for Development Studies, UDS, and the University for Renewable Energy and Natural Resources, UNER, have joined forces with the University of Copenhagen to launch a project christened ‘Access and Authority Nexus’ in Farmer-Herder Conflicts in Ghana to identify the main issues under pinning the problem.
Based on the outcome, the experts will then advice the government on the most pragmatic and durable solution to avert a re-occurrence of the conflicts.
The one point six-million Dollar research work has been launched at Akyawkrom near Ejisu in the Ashanti region and brought together interest individuals and groups from four concerned administrative districts in the Ashanti and Eastern regions.
These are the Asante Akyem North, Sekyere Afram Plains, Sekyere Kumawu and Afram Plains North.
Among the participants were representatives from the traditional leadership and farmers of the host communities, security personnel, herdsmen and government functionaries.
A Principal Investigator of the Project, Professor Boateng Kyere, who is also the Dean of the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resources of the KNUST, noted that the project will span four years and that the outcome is to positively influence local community and national policy formulation towards addressing the canker.
The Krontihene of Asante Akyem Agogo, Nana Kwame Nti said even though government’s intervention in the past two years has culminated in a reduced tension between the communities and the nomadic herdsmen, the presence of the Fulani herdsmen within the enclave is still a cause of worry among the people.
The Secretary to the Agogo Local Cattle Rearers Association, Alhaji Sulemana Abdul Hamid, told GBC that the persistent herder-farmer conflict has led to huge losses in terms of death to animals and humans, injuries and extensive destruction to crops. He therefore expressed the willingness of his colleagues to support any effort at finding a lasting solution to the problem.
Story filed by Nicholas Osei-Wusu
