The livestock sector is a pillar of the food system in Nigeria and the rest of Africa. It enhances poverty reduction, food security and agricultural development. According to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the sector supports the livelihoods, food and nutrition security of millions of people on the African Continent. However, sectoral output has grown enough to respond to increased demand fueled by population growth. This has placed the sector as one of the fastest growing agricultural sub-sectors in the market for solutions to engender transformation toward sustainable development and improved contribution to human diets. DANIEL ESSIET writes that there are now international interventions to improve the various dimensions of the livestock value chain system.
At every turn in Botswana and Brazil, the future of modern agriculture is taking shape—not in the boardrooms of big corporations but on thousands of modern farms.
Comparing Nigeria’s livestock industry and that of Botswana, the Managing Director of Chanan Elo’a Integrated Farm Limited, Udeme Etuk said though Nigeria’s livestock industry is resilient and well managed, the Southern African country is ahead in terms of cutting and processing plants for production of partitioned and processed meat products. Also, Botswana is implementing the Livestock Identification and Trace-back System, which enhances disease management.
Brazil is the world’s biggest beef supplier. In 2021, 27.7 million heads of cattle were slaughtered in Brazil, according to the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the government statistics bureau.
Last year, driven by Chinese demand, farmers increased the use of feed lots in beef production. This rose to about a fourth of the country’s overall slaughtered cattle.
For Andi Brisibe, a Professor of Plant Biotechnology at the University of Calabar, the livestock industry in Brazil has played a key role in steering the growth of the agricultural sector, supporting millions of livelihoods.
He believes that Brazil has established a robust food production system in terms of building the capacity of farmers and extension workers in protecting livestock genetic resources; business management and implementation of strategies, including the identification and traceability system.
This year, the Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, QU Dongyu visited Brazil where he highlighted the country’s great potential to contribute to global food security and to support other countries through Southsouth and Triangular Cooperation.
While in Brazil, Qu also visited several laboratories at Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology aimed at preserving plant, animal and micro-organism species to guarantee and increase genetic variability and food diversity.
Undoubtedly, Botswana and Brazil have developed a dependable infrastructure to grow and sustain livestock resources to stimulate economic growth. It has also been revealed that Africa’s livestock industry has not shown promising indications. While much has been achieved, a lot remains to be done to lead to better and more sustainable results.
In 2020, the Malabo Montpellier Panel report on “Meat, Milk and More: Policy Innovations to Shepherd Inclusive and Sustainable Livestock Systems in Africa,” highlighted options for sustainably promoting growth in the livestock sector, drawing from what four African countries, namely Ethiopia, Mali, South Africa and Uganda that have done successfully in terms of institutional and policy innovation as well as programmatic interventions.
The report highlighted that the livestock sector accounts for about 40 per cent of agricultural gross domestic product (GDP) in Africa; ranging from 30 to 80 per cent in individual countries; but rarely gets more than five to 10 per cent of agricultural investment. Consequently, it is under-performing.
The report highlighted the critical role of livestock in achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including achieving healthy diets, supporting millions of jobs and driving economic growth as well as the potential to transform women’s lives.
But how is the situation in Nigeria and the rest of African countries?
Despite its significant contributions to agricultural and national gross domestic product (GDP), the livestock sector in most African countries has remained heavily underfunded. The productivity of livestock is low, relative to its potential. Yet, the baseline data needed to adequately characterise livestock productivity levels in different parts of the Continent are not available.
In the fight against hunger and poverty, the state of the livestock industry doesn’t guarantee security in times of crisis. This has given concerns to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR).
The organisations have been working on coordinated mechanisms and support for countries in Africa to scale up best practice approaches.
FAO is rallying development cooperation as it had predicted that the African market for animal-source foods may exceed $60 billion annually by its estimates.
A notable step the FAO has taken towards enhancing the sustainability and resilience of livestock systems is the development of the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock (GASL).
GASL serves as an important platform for leaders and experts to gather to tackle the pressing issues in the livestock sector.
AU-IBAR and other global players in the sector are part of GASL. AU–IBAR has been part of the campaign to shape a sustainable livestock future for Africa. It participated in the 13th Multi-Stakeholder Partnership (MSP) Meeting of GASL and the Regional Conference on Sustainable Livestock Transformation, which took place recently in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The meeting, whose theme was “Multi-Stakeholder Partnership (MSP) Collaboration to Address Drivers of Change in Livestock Systems,” explored the drivers of change affecting livestock systems and envisioned innovative solutions. It also focused on the four critical domains of livestock sustainability: food and nutrition security, socio-economic considerations, and health and environmental factors.
To create a more sustainable and inclusive world by 2030, AU-IBAR’s Director Dr Huyam Salih reiterated the commitment of the bureau to make important efforts towards shaping the future of livestock systems in Africa. According to her, livestock plays a vital role in ensuring food security, livelihoods and incomes in Africa.
Analysts have stressed the need for Nigeria to transform its livestock systems to address the increasing demand for meat.
The increasing concern is that Nigeria’s livestock sector which plays a vital role in enhancing the economy, faces challenges that impact productivity, sustainability and food security. One such area is inadequate feed resources that have contributed to farmer-herder conflicts.
The Executive Director of the Commercial Dairy and Ranchers’ Association of Nigeria (CODRAN), Mr Dianabasi Akpainyang noted that with very low levels of feed production, the livestock industry in Nigeria is heavily dependent on feed and feed ingredients, even as he added that any increase in the cost of feed was going to affect farmers and therefore impact food security.
According to him, the current challenges of tighter feed supply are hindering the industry from achieving notable success at the premium end of the market.
In Nigeria, the shortage of feed is in the region of at least 12 million tons while local production is less than 20 million tons.
He urges policy and research attention to be paid to decreasing the dependence of livestock production on imported feed ingredients.
Like Akpainyang, the Managing Director of American West African Agro-Limited, Jerry Cunningham plans a reduction of its reliance on imported feed ingredients to support its domestic livestock sector.
In the circumstances, stakeholders have called for increased domestic corn production and better use to be made of local materials. They opined that reducing the country’s reliance on imported feed ingredients would help in supporting the growing industry as well as those involving other meats, dairy and fishery products. It would also help raise national food self-sufficiency and create job opportunities.
AU-IBAR is ready to support Nigeria’s forage and cattle development through participatory research that responds to farmers’ needs and identified opportunities. Its ongoing initiatives encompass a diverse range of projects that are aimed at fostering sustainable and resilient livestock development in Nigeria.
These include promoting fodder potential from staple food crops, assessing market potential and supporting the implementation of the National Livestock Transformation Plan to ensure holistic livestock sector growth.
As farmers faced tremendous challenges in their feed and fodder sectors, the bureau launched its Inception Workshop and assessments for the Resilient African Feed and Fodder Systems Project (RAFFS) in Abuja. The RAFFS project seeks to respond to challenges posed by the triple C crises: COVID-19, Climate Change and the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine. These have resulted in substantial losses, affecting livelihoods, incomes and the affordability of essential livestock-sourced foods. Indeed, the sector has demonstrated the potential of an important job provider, especially for the empowerment of women. According to the Malabo Montpellier Panel, a group of leading African and European experts in the fields of agriculture, ecology, nutrition, public policy and global development, there are approximately 249 million women livestock keepers in Africa for whom livestock represents a major source of income and an opportunity for wealth accumulation.
While the majority of them are backyard livestock producers, the panel noted that a few have elevated their production to successful commercial companies. Sadly, Nigerian women have not been mentioned for playing a critical role in reducing hunger through livestock production. The few names celebrated at the continental level included the Executive Director of SEDIMA Group, Senegal’s leading poultry production group, Anta Babacar Ngom; the Chief Executive of Tiviski, Africa’s first camel milk dairy, Nancy Abeid Arahamane; the founder, Lopey Inc and the Sereledi dairy brands, Penelope Wright; the founder of Dreamland Piggery–a multi-million-rand family-operated farm in South Africa, Anna Phosa and founder and owner of one of the biggest private dairy farms in Eritrea, Mrs Azieb Tsegay.
To change the narrative, the RAFFS Inception Workshop also featured the introduction of the African Women in Animal Resources Farming and Agribusiness Network (AWARFA-N) to enhance women’s participation in the feed and fodder sector. The RAFFS project works with African Union member states and regional economic communities in the three most affected regions, the Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD), Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) to build resilience in African feed and fodder systems.
Dr Huyam Salih, who spoke through AU-IBAR RAFFS Project Officer, Dr Sarah Ashanut Ossiya during the workshop in Abuja, listed critical issues faced by women in the livestock sector revolving around their constrained access to appropriate, long-term financing solutions tailored to their unique requirements.
Dr Sarah observed that across Nigeria and the rest of the Continent, the demand for livestock products such as milk, meat and eggs is growing rapidly due to an increasing population, urbanisation and increasing income. For this reason, she said the RAFFS Project, in collaboration with AWARFA-N, Nigeria chapter will organise livestock outreach programmes, and coordinate and monitor training for women farmers.
She reiterated that giving women the same opportunities as men and increasing demand for livestock products is offering opportunities for women to use livestock as a pathway out of poverty and food insecurity. She said the opportunity has come to get more women involved in the livestock sector.
So far, a lot of women in the livestock industry linked to AWARFA-N, Nigeria chapter intend to improve production by increasing the farming system efficiency and building linkages to urban beef markets. They will be exposed to sessions on how to grow high-yield, nutrition-rich forage, and silage-making methods that ensure food supplies for livestock during the dry season.
One of them is Mrs. Zainab Hammanga, a former Director of Investment and Consultancy at the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC). She has since retired from farming and has been supporting organisations, empowering women to make meaningful changes in the agricultural industry. She has brought into the AU-IBAR project to encourage more women to take that step forward into the space. She said: “The agricultural industry needs to embrace more women to succeed.” She said it was vital for the industry to encourage more women to work in agriculture.
Halima Isah, an Abuja-based young entrepreneur has seen both small- and large-scale livestock farmers struggle to feed their cows in the North, where, sometimes a large part of a state would suffer from the worst drought. Consequently, arranging fodder for the cows had become a challenge.
She said: “I would want the government to support farmers to embrace hydroponic feed and fodder production.” According to her, the technology which involves growing plants without soil and by using mineral nutrients dissolved in water, is one of the innovations aimed at improving the production of livestock and can be promoted in areas grappling with water and fodder scarcity.
According to her, the barriers to women making in agriculture are increasing, adding that they needed all the support to successfully break through the glass ceiling in the agribusiness industry.
While the desire of the government to empower women and make them self-reliant is strong, she maintained that the resources needed to support them to take off are lacking.
For Adamawa State-based livestock entrepreneur and Chief Executive of Benue Valley Farms Limited, Ms Asma’u Joda tending to livestock is a fast track to empowerment. Yet, she struggles because insecurity is challenging feed and fodder production. She has seen families depending on small-scale livestock production for livelihoods, food security and employment creation. Most families in the North own cattle and a lot more depend on it to make a living.
However, the sector is being challenged by insecurity and the high cost of feed. This has in turn affected farmers’ productivity. She is keen to recall the good days of cattle rearing, but that the business has nosedived as bandits threaten the business.
For her, cattle rustling, and banditry have left farmers grappling with fear as some have had to abandon their farms, describing the severity of the situation, and the need to prioritise security. Zainab Isa is an entrepreneur from Zamfara. She is a farmer and herder. She aligns with the priorities to empower women in the livestock industry. She noted that ownership of livestock was much more egalitarian for women in the North. She continued that the livestock sector’s contribution to the economy will remain severely stalled if the issue of insecurity is not dealt with quickly. According to her, the government needs to implement policies that create a safe environment for women.
Although much of the North appears secure from pockets of banditry activities, the operating conditions in places such as Zamfara are not considered favourable for livestock business.
She feels unsafe rearing cattle in unprotected areas as a result of insecurity. She described Northern livestock farmers as resilient types, as the severity of the insecurity condition has given them concerns. She has lived through a lot seeing cattle rustlers causing huge damages to households and farmers across the region who keep cattle, goats and sheep.
The Country Focus Person for the Project in Nigeria, Dr Winnie Lai Solarin is already looking at helping women involved in livestock farming to adapt successfully to climate change, increasing production sustainably and developing new markets. One of the project’s achievements, according to Mrs. Winnie Lai-Solarin who is the Director of Animal Husbandry Services of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, would be to train farmers in preserving feed as silage-a fermented, high-moisture stored fodder, which comes in handy at times when livestock feed becomes scarce.
