Nigeria livestock industry worth over N30trn ― Agric Minister

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, has disclosed that the government would streamline the existing livestock development programmes and policies for effective management of the sector.

The Minister said this recent move by the government would further assist in addressing the conflict between herdsmen and farmers.

Nanono, who made this known yesterday in Abuja during the launch of Advancing Local Dairy Development in Nigeria (ALDDN), organised by Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition Limited, said that the Nigeria livestock is worth over N30 trillion which contributes about 17 per cent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Nanono, who said the public and private sectors does not show seriousness in the livestock sub-sector, said the government was ready to partner the investors towards boosting local dairy production to cut importation.

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The National Team Leader, ALDDN, Sahel Consulting, Mr Ernest Ihedigbo, while speaking on the objectives of the program, said it would create an enabling environment for local sourcing through engagements with government and relevant private sector stakeholders.

Ihedigbo said ALDDN was also aimed at increasing the milk yield of 75,000 cows from 15,000 dairy households by at least 30 per cent resulting in the production of about 190,000 litres of milk per day at the end of the program.

He said the women dairy farmers were the major target of the intervention which includes partnering with financial institutions and other programs to provide dairy farmers with more than easier access to services such as savings accounts, microcredit, Islamic banking, mobile banking, group savings among others.

Speaking further, Ihedigbo said, “ALDDN will provide training on good dairy practices, nutrition education, hygiene education and behaviour change. The training will be disseminated through extension agents, including female agents to increase the participation of women dairy farmers.

“The program will work with the government and the processors to support an enabling environment for local sourcing of milk. It will commission robust analysis of existing policies and policy reform opportunities on the dairy enterprise value chain including prevailing regimes of import tariffs and levies among others,” he said.

— Nigerian Tribune