The Federal Government has said it will streamline the livestock development programmes and policies for effective management of the sector, adding that it would further assist in addressing conflict with farmers.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Sabo Nanono, who made this known on Thursday in Abuja during the launch of Advancing Local Dairy Development in Nigeria (ALDDN), organised by Sahel Consulting Agriculture and Nutrition Limited, said the livestock industry is worth over N30 trillion and contributes about 17 percent to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Nanono, lamenting that the public and private sectors do not take the livestock sub-sector serious, said the government was ready to partner investors to boost local dairy production to cut importation.
On the objectives and expected outcomes of the programme, the National Team Leader, ALDDN, Sahel Consulting, Mr Ernest Ihedigbo, said it would create an enabling environment for local sourcing through engagements with government and relevant private sector stakeholders.
Ihedigbo said ALDDN is also aimed at increasing the milk yield of 75,000 cows from 15,000 dairy households by at least 30 percent resulting in the production of about 190,000 litres of milk per day at the end of the program.
On financial inclusion and income diversification, he said the women dairy farmers are 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, micro credit, Islamic banking, mobile banking, group savings among others.
While speaking further on training and extension, according to him, “ALDDN will provide training on good dairy practices, nutrition education, hygiene education and behavior change. The training will be disseminated through extension agents, including female agents to increase the participation of of women dairy farmers”.
Ihedigbo who stressed further on infrastructure development said the program will improve farmer’s access to clean water by constructing solar boreholes in targeted dairy communities.
“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.