Minister seeks concerted effort on Animal Genetic Resources Management

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has called for a concerted effort to elevate the status of Animal Genetic Resources Management in the country. Kyari made the call in Abuja at a sensitization workshop organised by the United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS), and Department of Veterinary and Pest […]

The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, has called for a concerted effort to elevate the status of Animal Genetic Resources Management in the country.

Kyari made the call in Abuja at a sensitization workshop organised by the United States Department of Agriculture, Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA-FAS), and Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services of the ministry.

Daily Trust reports that the workshop, tagged ‘Consultative Stakeholders Workshop on Reproductive Animal Health for Improvement of Genetic Potentials of Nigerian Livestock Herd through Artificial Insemination’, brought together stakeholders in the livestock industry from across the country.

According to the Minister, the call has become imperative to move the country from a net importer of Animal Genetic Resources to a bet Exporter, adding that to do this “we need investment in the sector, as government cannot do it alone and that is how we can annex the full potentials of the sector.”

The Minister, represented by his Special Adviser on Livestock Innovation System and Nutrition Security, Dr Popoola Mustapha, said the workshop is put together to address the issue of Genetic Resources Management with the perspective of Health, saying “Animal health is important and when you have all these semen that you can use for the improvement of our genetics locally and you are importing them. Some major parameters is to look at the quality of the semen and the health of that particular animal.”

He said, what is important is the technology transfer, “we are supposed to start having our own animals, where we can collect the semen, we should not be looking at importation, when are we going to have our own locally in the country to even start exporting. So that we can gain exchange.”

He said, to move forward, Nigeria needs to have facilities to do semen collection across the country “we need investment in animal gene bank system, so that people can do some commercial production of our genetics and be able to sell it Nationally, regionally and even export.”

Addressing Journalists on the sidelines of the workshop, Chief Veterinary Officer of Nigeria, Dr. Columbus Teru Vakuru who is also the Director Department of Veterinary based services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, said based on the effort being made by the present administration to enhance productivity in the livestock sector, by developing animal resources the workshop will engaged and unlock the potential within the livestock industry.

“After the workshop, we envisage a situation where the genetic potential of our indigenous animals both domestic and those in the wild, we would have looked at how to improve on those potentials so that we can improve the production and productivity of our animals.”