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The Presidential Livestock Reform Committee on Thursday stated that the most viable solution to the farmer-herder crisis is a combination of both ranching and open grazing.
“Any solution that is to be developed now has to be a combination of both,” the Co-chairman of the committee, Prof. Attahiru Jega, told State House Correspondents after the committee submitted a 152-page inception report on livestock reforms in Nigeria.
Jega said the recommendations would serve as an interim measure while the Federal Government promotes its long-term objective of intensive livestock production.
The Co-chairman, who appeared alongside three members of the committee, explained that the committee is focused on achieving a long-term objective of intensive livestock production.
He added that the recommended policies and frameworks would accommodate both ranching and open grazing for a defined period, while raising awareness of the extensive nature of pastoralism.
“You cannot wake up tomorrow and have only ranching because there is already a large portion of the population involved in traditional pastoral activities. What do you do with them? It’s not a case of either/or, but any solution developed now has to be a combination of both.
“We are promoting long-term objectives like intensive livestock production, but you cannot achieve this overnight.
You need to develop policies and frameworks that can accommodate both for a period of time. The objective is to have intensive livestock production, not the extensive pastoralism we currently have,” said Jega.
He noted that the report suggested a 10-year implementation timeline for the recommendations “to achieve incremental positive changes in the livestock sector.”
“I think some of the challenges we’ve faced in the past, which have led to the politicisation of the issue, stem from being quick to adopt a singular mindset regarding the solution.
“In a complicated situation like this, we need to think in terms of incremental positive changes, and we must have a timeframe within which these will be achieved,” he explained.
Prof. Jega also stated that the committee recommended the creation of a Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, with detailed guidelines for its establishment.
Meanwhile, the National Project Coordinator for the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project, Mrs Winnie Lai-Solarin, provided an estimated breakdown of the number of livestock in the country.
She cited the most recent National Agricultural Sample Census (2022) and projections by the Federal Department of Animal Husbandry Services, which revealed that Nigeria has 563 million poultry, 600 million sheep, 124 million goats, 58 million cattle, and 16 million pigs.
Lai-Solarin argued that this presents a significant opportunity for investors.
She said, “You can imagine the volume of investment in the feed industry. With this pronouncement by Mr President, and with these numbers, Nigeria has the largest livestock population in West Africa and ranks fifth in Africa.
“Poultry alone represents over N1.7 trillion in investment. The reforms we have implemented and those we are proposing will move the ruminant sector from 1 per cent in intensive production. Currently, only 1 per cent of our ruminants are reared intensively, while about 85 per cent are reared extensively. What does that tell you? 85 per cent are in the hands of pastoralists.
“The reform aims to gradually move and expand this production system, similar to what we have in the poultry sector, where 31 per cent of production is intensive.”
Thursday’s meeting followed months of deliberation since the National Livestock Reforms Committee first recommended the creation of a “Ministry of Livestock Resources” to President Tinubu last September.
Former Kano State Governor and Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, Abdullahi Ganduje, who led the delegation at the time, said the new ministry was one of 21 recommendations outlined in a document submitted to the President to enhance the Federal Government’s holistic response to the ongoing violence.
The document detailed the proposed solutions, where the committee advocated for a reform agenda addressing conflict mitigation and resource management.
The PUNCH previously reported that Nigeria’s farmer-herder crisis, which is more pronounced in the North-Central region, has persisted for over two decades, claiming over 60,000 lives since 2001.
Desert encroachment in the north has forced nomadic herders to move southwards in search of greener pastures for their cattle, resulting in fierce competition for resources with farmers.
However, President Tinubu said that implementing livestock reforms would address obstacles to agricultural productivity and create new opportunities that would benefit farmers, herders, processors, and distributors in the livestock farming value chain.
