Practice modern husbandry, Minister tells local herders

JUBA – The Minister of Animal Resources and Fisheries Onyoti Adigo Nykwic has urged the local cattle keepers to shift from traditional to modern animal husbandry.

Nykwic told the herders to sell out their local cattle breeds and buy hybrid cows that produce quality meat and milk.

According to Onyoti, such a move will reduce the conflict currently being felt among the farming communities, especially in Central and Eastern Equatoria States.

“Farmers have been complaining over the movement of these cattle into their farms destroying crops hence resulting in low crop production, especially in the Equatoria region,” he said.

Onyoti said, unlike the local breed, the hybrid cow often requires a small portion of land and can be grazed in a paddock system.

“The issue of the cattle roaming into people’s farms has been a problem but our advice as the Ministry of Animal Resources and Fisheries is that the cattle keepers should sell their local cattle and buy a hybrid cow to avoid moving from one place to another,” Onyoti.

He was speaking after a meeting with a farmers’ association organized by Daughters of Mary Immaculate in Jenglei, Luri village of Juba County last week.

“It is not easy to steal hybrid cow because they are big and fat and keeping them require a small area of land for grazing,” Onyoti stressed.

‘‘If we need peace we need to work and produce our food. We don’t have peace because people are hungry. The local cattle we have are of low quality with fewer kilograms of meat and milk,” he said.

The farming communities in Jenglei raised concerns over the constant destruction of their crops by cattle, where the problem was widely witnessed last year.

Chief of Jenglei Village, John Monoa, said the farmers did not get enough produce last year because of the flooding and cattle that had destroyed their crops.

“We have been supported by Daughters of Mary Immaculate [DMI] and we were provided with farm tools and seeds but the problems were the floods and cattle that destroyed all our crops,” he said.

The Country Director of Daughters of Mary Immaculate [DMI] Jenny Maila said the farmers’ status has improved following their contributions to agricultural activities in the area.

For the last five years, there have been on-off tensions between the two communities; cattle keepers and farmers during the farming season in the area. Last month, Governor Emmanuel Adil Anthony ordered all cattle keepers in the Kworijik area to return to Terekeka County.