Geospatial-based approach to siting suitable cattle ranch in Bauchi state, Nigeria

The rate of urbanisation in Nigeria is 5.3%, one of the highest in the world, this is proportional to the population growth, consequently the expansion of agricultural activities. These are some of the factors that put enormous pressure on the use of land resources which led to the occupation of land which were earlier meant for cattle grazing and route for farming and construction resulting to conflict between farmers and herders. Worthy of note is the lack of forage for herdsmen, due to climate change and the encroaching Sahara Desert. Pastoralist-farmers’ conflicts in Nigeria have grown, spread and intensified over the past decade and today poses a threat to national survival. There is therefore, a need to settle these pastoralists and their livestock on suitable land for grazing. A unique approach of a Geospatial information System (GIS)-based multicriteria evaluation site selection was developed which took in to account various factors to find suitable areas for siting cattle ranch in Bauchi state. It was found that about 41% of the total land mass in Bauchi state is suitable for siting cattle ranch, 33% of the land shows to be unsuitable. While the remaining 26% is moderately suitable. Therefore, it can be said that there exist more than enough suitable land to site a sustainable cattle ranch in Bauchi state in order to contain the persistent herders and farmers in the state.