Nigeria Institute of Animal Science, partners with Institute and Premier Agribusiness Academy to boost livestock farming
Ayemere Iyayi a professor and the registrar/CEO of the Nigeria Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) has expressed optimism that the collaboration between the institute and Premier Agribusiness Academy (PAA) to broaden the capacity of livestock farmers will help transform the industry in the country.
According to him, the collaboration will soon begin to yield positive results as farmers continue to learn new skills and adopt technologies to drive growth in the industry.
Speaking during an interactive session with journalists, Prof. Iyayi said the purpose of the MoU is to create a convergence between what NIAS does as a government agency purposely for the regulation of the animal husbandry industry which includes training and development of stakeholders in the livestock value chain.
He stated that while NIAS has the repository of the expert body, it is not oblivious of the need for a recognized, professional training institute like PAA to help drive its livestock development agenda, consequent to the market development knowledge and skills acquired by the academy over the years.
“We expect that with our collaboration with PAA, there will be an upliftment in the skill acquisition of all those that are connected with livestock production,” he said.
“We are very hopeful that the knowledge that will be acquired through the training that will take place, will help sharpen our skills and upscale livestock businesses across the value chain, resulting in higher productivity and profitability of livestock businesses,” he further said.
“Our choice of PAA as facilitators is as a result of the academy’s antecedents of excellence and participant testaments from their past training programs as well as their collaborations with world-class institutes all over the world,” he added.
Recall that Iyayi during a collaborative meeting between NIAS, IITA, and PAA which was held recently attributed the unavailability of quality and affordable livestock feeds to the shortfall in the production of maize and soybean in the country.
According to him, it became imperative for NIAS to pay attention to livestock feed production to avoid starvation, unprofitability, and indebtedness of farmers especially those still struggling to remain in business.
He stressed that the solution is farmer participation.
