Pastoral Challenges: Livestock Committee Calls For Integrated Solutions

Professor Attahiru Jega, Co-Chairman of the Livestock Reform Committee, has emphasized the need for comprehensive solutions to the pastoral challenges in Nigeria.

He advocates for a combined approach incorporating both Ranching and Open grazing as integral components of any proposed solution aimed at addressing pastoralism in the country.

He said this should subsist while the Federal Government promotes the long-term objective of Intensive livestock production.

Professor Jega stated this on Thursday while briefing State House Correspondents at the Council Chamber, State House, Abuja on the submitted 152-page inception report on livestock reforms, to President Bola Tinubu.

The Co-Chairman who submitted the report alongside the other 3members of the committee explained that part of the reasons the committee is promoting a long-term objective is to eventually achieve intensive livestock production.

He added that policies and frameworks that would accommodate both ranching and open grazing for some time while increasing awareness of the extensive nature of pastoralism should be encouraged.

“You cannot wake up tomorrow and all you have is ranching because you already have quite a large chunk of the population in traditional pastoral activities, what you do with them, is not either nor but any solution that has to be developed now has to be a combination of both.

“Why we are promoting long-term objective is that we now have intensive livestock production but you know you cannot wake up one day and have that, you have to develop policies and frameworks that can accommodate both for a period while increasing the objective is to have intensive livestock production not to have extensive like pastoralism that we have now.

He further suggested a time frame for policy realisation of pastoralism to achieve incremental positive changes in the livestock sector.

“I think some of the challenges we have had in the past has led to the politicisation of the issue is that we are quick to develop a single frame of mind as regards what the solution is but in a complicated situation on that we have to think in terms of incremental positive changes we must to have a time frame within when these will be achieved.”

Livestock Reforms Committee Inception Report 

The Livestock Reforms Committee earlier presented 152 pages of inception report to President Tinubu on Thursday detailing several achievable targeted indicators within a 10-year time frame, that would inform major reforms in the livestock sector of Nigeria.

Speaking on behalf of the Committee the Co-Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega made known that the committee proffered recommendations on the set-up of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development with detailed guidelines on the establishment of the Ministry.

The Co-Chairman also stated that with the presented report, Nigeria would begin to address some of the challenges facing its livestock sector.

National Project Coordinator Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project Winnie Lai Solari stated that the recent National Agricultural sample census and the projections by the Federal Department of Animal Husbandry Services as quoted by the National Bureau of Statistics 2022, revealed that Nigeria has a total of 563 Million poultry, 600 million sheep, 124 million goats, 58 million cattle, 16 million pigs. 

She added that this provides huge opportunities for investors.

“You can imagine the volume of investment you have in the feed industry so investors in the livestock sector, with this pronouncement by Mr President, with this number, Nigeria has the largest number of livestock in West Africa, and we are about fifth in the whole of Africa. 

“Poultry alone has over 1.7 trillion investment. And what the reforms that we have put in place and the reforms we are proposing will try to do is to move the ruminant side from moving them from 1% in intensive production. Only 1% of our ruminants are read intensively, about 85% extensively. So what does that tell you? 85% are in the hands of the pastoralists. 

“So the reform is to gradually move and spread that production system as we have in the poultry sector, where you have 31% in the intensively, right? If we can balance it, as the co-chair has said, is not either balancing and moving easily so that you have reduced the number of animals held extensively and then bringing investors to assure economic growth by investing in these different sectors and the different value chains that you have in the larger sector. 

Lai-Solarin added that with President Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda in Nigeria’s livestock sector, investors from across the world would benefit hugely while Nigerians realise nutrition security.

Recall that President Bola Tinubu on July 9th 2024, in Abuja, inaugurated the Presidential Committee on Implementation of Livestock Reforms to address obstacles to agricultural productivity and open up new opportunities which benefit farmers, herders, processors, and distributors in the livestock-farming value chain.  

Lantana Nasir