Issues at the 1st National Council on Livestock Development
The 1st National Council on Livestock Development, which opened in Yola, Adamawa State on Monday, November 24, 2025, highlighted some of the burning issues affecting the livestock sector, which have been neglected for decades. The theme of the conference was: “Livestock Rebirth: Accelerating Renewed Hope.” Stakeholders, including farmers, investors, policy makers, technology developers and parliamentarians, […]
The 1st National Council on Livestock Development, which opened in Yola, Adamawa State on Monday, November 24, 2025, highlighted some of the burning issues affecting the livestock sector, which have been neglected for decades.
The theme of the conference was: “Livestock Rebirth: Accelerating Renewed Hope.”
Stakeholders, including farmers, investors, policy makers, technology developers and parliamentarians, converged on Yola to make decisions and suggest policy direction for the modernisation of the sector, which is deeply rooted in crisis in the country.
Briefing the delegates, the Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, listed what the ministry had achieved since it was created a year ago.
“I am proud to report that in this short period we have laid a solid foundation for this transformation, guided by the National Livestock Growth Acceleration Strategy (NL-GAS), the National Livestock Master Plan and other laudable initiatives. The NL-GAS aims to transform our livestock industry from a $32 billion to $74 billion industry within the next five years. It encompasses increased productivity per head and increases the population of our livestock.
He said Nigeria was already in discussion with several companies that want to invest in key subsectors, such as dairy, beef, fodder, small ruminants, animal breeding, poultry, piggery and animal identification, amongst others, adding, “We will see the physical manifestation of these engagements in a few months.”
The fodder, water questions
The herders’ quest for water and feed is one of the main causes of disputes between livestock and sedentary farmers. Although Maiha said they had “successfully registered eight new pasture species, a critical milestone, being the first of such registration in nearly five decades,” the crucial issue is how to encourage farmers to cultivate these varieties to increase their availability and how to persuade many traditional herders to purchase them for their animals.
While the government has taken significant steps to close the infrastructure gap in veterinary health delivery and farm-centre services, with L-PRES, a World Bank-funded project that provides solar-powered vaccine cold storage rooms, solar-powered boreholes, drinking troughs, cattel dips, milk collection centres, slaughter slaps and pasture development across the country, experts said more investment was needed in this area.
The minister, however, said the ministry was “aggressively scaling up” the country’s capacity for animal health, adding, “Our ongoing efforts at the National Veterinary Research Institute (NVRI) in Vom are set to expand livestock vaccine production capacity from 120 million to 850 million doses per annum, securing our herds and indeed those of our neighbours against devastating zoonotic diseases.”
417 reserves, open grazing
During the conference resort, word spread that the federal government had outlawed open grazing in the country. A day later, the minister claimed it was fake news. Although he stated that open grazing was not viable, he suggested a gradual change in which all grazing reserves were fixed to allow herders to move into them.
Conflicts, on the other hand, amplify the urge to modernise grazing reserves. Although the government has begun work in some reserves, such as the Wase Livestock Village in Plateau State and the Kawu grazing reserves in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), funding may be a major difficulty because the ministry’s budget for capital projects is less than N15 billion.
This approach aims to provide modern infrastructure, pasture development, primary health care clinics, primary schools, solar-powered boreholes for residential and animal watering, veterinary services, and safe settlements, all of which need significant resources.
What we must do
Nigeria has to make a swift transition from low-yielding native breeds to climate-resilient, high-yielding stock. The foundation is provided by the National Strategy on Animal Genetic Resources. In order to expedite genetic transformation and improve the productivity of our cattle, small ruminants, pigs and poultry, the minister urged governments to collaborate with the federal government and give priority to the establishment of breeding centres and artificial insemination services.
The period of open grazing, according to experts, is unsustainable and a cause of ongoing strife. The country has a clear plan, according to Maiha, to “rehabilitate the 417 grazing reserves into modern, secure and economically viable Renewed Hope Livestock Villages (RHLVs).” Most importantly, we have to market ranching as the ultimate, contemporary option.
Maiha also urged all state governments to give pastoralists who are open to adopting this contemporary method an appropriate land.
To modernise the livestock sector, Nigeria needs to make significant investments along the whole livestock value chain, from the production of feed and fodder to processing, transportation, marketing and consumption. This goes beyond primary production. Modernising the sector can only be achieved through this all-encompassing strategy.
Key speakers like Prof Attahiru Jega, the Special Advisor to the President on Livestock Reforms, emphasised in his keynote speech the necessity of reorganising farmer-pastoralist corridors into structured fodder production hubs that involve both young farmers and herders in order to turn conflict drivers into economic opportunities.
He called for the country’s livestock census to effectively manage the country’s livestock resources.