This is to help reduce conflicts between crop farmers and herders as well as ensure effective management of livestock mobility and production in the area.

Participants at the week-long workshop include traditional authorities, representatives from the Karaga District Assembly, crop farmers, herders, security agencies and veterinary officers among others.

The workshop forms part of GDCA's agro-pastoralism project dubbed: "Project to Support Livestock Mobility for Better Access to Resources and Markets in West Africa (PAMOBARMA)".

The PAMOBARMA project seeks to protect and enhance easy mobility of the herds and their access to pastoral resources and markets in the sub region to minimize conflicts arising from the activities of herdsmen and farmers.

The project is being implemented together with a French partner, Acting for Life (AFL) and jointly funded by the European Union and the French Development Organisation.

Mr Lukman Yussif, the Project Coordinator for the PAMOBARMA, said the project identified the Karaga District, amongst other districts, as one of the entry points used by transhumance or herders due to the availability of grazing field in the area.

"Because of the availability of abundance of grazing resources in Karaga, it serves as a pulling factor that draws the herdsmen into the area to settle" he said.

Mr Yussif said the movement of these herdsmen into the area usually results in conflicts due to animals invading and grazing on farmlands of indigenes and the struggle for access to water, especially during drought seasons.

He said there is therefore the need for the organization to establish the week-long workshop to create informed debates and dialogues between the crop farmers and the herders together with other key stakeholders on how to reduce the conflicts and ensure the effective management of livestock mobility and production in the area.

He said the workshop would also enlighten and roll out some of the economic benefits that could be derived through effective collaboration between the indigenes and the herders.

Mr Osman Musah, Co-ordinating Director for the Karaga District, commended GDCA for bringing the project into the district adding that the workshop would not only help minimise conflicts and promote unity but also help save the assembly from using its limited resources to solve and control issues of conflicts.

Mr Baba Bawa Zaachi, the Youth Leader of Karaga, commended GDCA for organising the workshop saying the platform would help ensure effective dialogue and understanding between the farmers and the herdsmen.

He, however, advised the herders to stop their movement and grazing activities at night to prevent their cattle from invading farms.