The Federal Department of Husbandry Services in the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has trained 80 extension agents on how to effectively establish, manage and utilise pasture with a view to addressing the challenges of food security in the country, especially with the lingering farmers/herders clashes.
Pasture lands, it was gathered, are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, sheep or goats. The vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs (non-grass herbaceous plants).
Speaking at the training, which was planned for 2,000 farmers in Kaduna, Benue, Plateau and Nasarawa states, a former Director of the Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) in the ministry, Nyam Leo, said that pasture took 70 per cent of any livestock exercise or business.