The Manager for the Cattle Ranching Project Committee is not a happy man. Mr. James Yaw Asante’s concerns arise out of the low patronage of the Cattle Ranching Project built to house cattle in the country.
The Manager regretted that the three-month old facility was not receiving the necessary patronage despite its establishment for the past three months.
According to the ranch manager, only about five hundred (500) cattle had been brought to the ranch at the Afram Plains though the facility can house about 6,000 cattle.
This, Mr. Yaw Asante averred is despite the Cattle Ranching Project Committee undertaking its mandate of sensitizing and educating cattle farmers on the need to utilize the facility.
Mr. Yaw Asante who spoke in an interview with host Omanba Kwodwo Boafo on the Rite Morning Ride however added that ‘checks and balances’ had been put in place to oversee the crossing of animals into the country from neighboring countries during the dry season.
He recounted the unending clashes between the two sides in the run up to the establishment of the ranch, lamenting that the farmers were not patronizing the ranch. “There have been several problems between the two groups hence the need to establish the ranching policy for cattle farmers,” he said. “Unfortunately, only few cattle farmers have brought some five hundred (500) cattle in number though the ranch at the Afram Plains can take 6,000 cattle.
Mr. Asante in disclosing that plans were underway to establish more ranches across the country however expressed optimism that the Cattle Ranching Project Committee will permanently address the perennial challenges of herdsmen-crop farmers’ conflict that has persisted for several years now.
He also believes that the policy if well executed will go a long way in solving the impasse between the two sides to avert further bloodshed in the country.
“The cattle ranching committee set up by the government to put measures and mechanisms in place to curtail the persistent clashes between Fulani herdsmen and crop farmers that claimed many lives has started field operations,” he said.
As part of plans to establish the construction of ranches across the country, government set-up its first cattle ranch in the Afram Plains to help deal with the herdsmen and cattle menace which it says is in fulfilment of the pledge made in the run-up to the 2016 elections,.
The six thousand (6,000) capacity cattle ranch intended to be replicated across the country is resourced with water, food and offices.
Source:Prince Paul Amuzu/www.ritefmonline.org/princeamuzu667@gmail.com
