Land Depletion Worries Rukpokwu Indigenes

The people of Rukpokwu community in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, have cried out over the continuous depletion of their arable land by cattle rearers, believed  to be Fulani herds men.

The indigenes who expressed unhappiness over how some of their land have just been taken over by the cattle rearers, posited that what they are experiencing now was relatively strange to them, and that they were apprehensive of the situation.

An opinion leader in the community, Elder Simeon Aker, while speaking to newsmen explained that the activities of the cattle rearers on their land had affected agricultural output.

Aker stated that the Rukpokwu-Aluu farm land had been destroyed by these Fulani herdsmen through the rearing and grazing of their cattle, pointing out that this  was done without the consent of land owners and the community.

He, therefore, appealed to the Rivers State government to intervene in the situation and move the herdsmen away from the area so as to enable the people have free access to their land.

One of the residents of the area, Madam Felicia Worlu, lamented that their farmland had been colonised by the cattle rearers who from available records had been making trouble with land owners whereever their settled.

Presently, she said that their crops and the farm land had been devastated by cattle, pointing out that they could no longer have free access to farmlands, particularly the area between Rukpokwu and Aluu.

Corlins Walter