As part of activities to mark the declaration of the National Pasture Day in FCT, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has donated 25kg bags of pasture seeds to 300 farmers in the FCT.
This is even as it declared 28th June, an annual National Pasture Planting Day.
Handling over the seeds to the farmers at Paiko Kore, Gwagwalada Area Council in Federal Capital Territory (FCT) during the flag off of the federal government’s national pasture planting programme, the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Muhammad Mahmood Abubakar, said it is to encourage private and public sector investments in commercial pasture production.
He said the programme was one of the continuous efforts in promoting intentional pasture development in Nigeria.
According to him, “I have endorsed the proposal that this flag-off day, 28th June, becomes an annual National Pasture Planting Day. I am glad that this Flag-off ceremony is holding at a time when Nigeria is having a renewed focus on the livestock sector, especially in pasture development as it plays an important role in providing an economic source of ruminant livestock feed, and improves productivity for food and human security.”
Abubakar it is worth noting that more than 95 percent of Nigeria′s ruminant production is primarily managed under the traditional pastoral system characteristic of extensive system where naturally grown pastures are the main source of nutrition for the animals. “Therefore, herders and husbanders rely on mobility in search of feeds, water, and friendly grazing areas,” he said.
“Thus, the production system limits both production and productivity per animal essentially due to lack of all-year-round availability of feeding and watering resources, thereby causing a drawback to the ability of the pastoralists to settle in a given place and produce.
“The result of this continuous movement in search of pasture has adversely affected the animals’ attainment of their optimal productivity and consistently impaired our national capacity for self-sufficiency in livestock products and animal protein needs, especially our national target of 1.6 billion liters of milk per annum. It has eluded our national peace-building efforts through the incessant conflict between pastoralists and crop farmers along their movement routes. These have also impaired improvement in the livelihood of the pastoral families in particular and neighboring crop farmers.”
Speaking further, the minister said, “Our current ranking by FAO is 15th in the world in cattle, 5th in sheep and 3rd in goat, and 17th in camel farming. The continuous extensive system of production is not a viable option since the land area for grazing and feed availability are severely limiting factors in the high livestock producing zones of Nigeria. It is therefore very necessary and top priority that all players in the industry focus on meeting the huge demand for pasture. This will give a great opportunity to unlock the potential of the Livestock industry and the development of its rich value chains.”
The event featured the distribution of pasture seeds and ceremonial pasture seeds planting.
