September 13, 2013

Nigeria to boost its livestock industry

Nigeria spent NGN100 billion (US$614 million) annually in the importation of dairy products partly because of its neglected livestock sub-sector, as disclosed by the country's Minister of State for Agriculture, Bukar Tijani.

The minister who disclosed this at the opening of the second Animal Science Association of Nigeria (ASAN) and Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) Joint Annual Meeting in Abuja, tasked the animal scientists to reverse this ugly trend, as the importation of dairy products, meat and milk, constituted a big drain to the national economy.

He called for the deployment of innovations and technology to raise the production capacity of livestock in Nigeria, adding the federal government is targeting to make Nigeria one of the largest producers of livestock by 2020.

He pointed out that the present administration under its Agricultural Transformation Agenda (ATA) was shifting attention from subsistence farming to growing agriculture as a business or agribusiness.

Earlier, the President of Nigerian Institute of Animal Science, Placid Njoku, had observed with dismay that in spite of the successes recorded in the implementation of ATA, that the livestock sub-sector had been neglected.

According to him the transformation programme has not advanced at the anticipated pace, especially when one recognises the great inherent potentials of the sub-sector to the national economy and critical essence of animal protein to human development and well-being. Progress in livestock development has been confounded by policy ineptitudes and implementation failures.

He stated that the theme of the meeting was intended to mainstream the current need of the nation to systematically harmonise strategies that will review, develop, sharpen and implement standards for the livestock industry as well as train animal scientists on Standard Operating Procedures [SOPs] for various activities in animal husbandry.

Also speaking is the Food and Agriculture Representative in Nigeria, Louise Setshwaelo, said that Nigeria had substantial capacity to contribute to the country's economy than what was obtainable. She added that livestock domestic production had not been able to keep pace with the growing demand.

Finally, Setshwaelo called for the enforcement of standards and regulations in the livestock sub-sector.