The barrage of comments, criticisms, questions and name-calling on the social media that have trailed the announcement of an intention to import grass to improve the business of production of cattle, sheep and goats in Nigeria is rather incredible. Too many of such comments smacked of hasty, hollow and inappropriate responses that betrayed a lack of understanding of the subject, the enormity of the problem, the benefits embedded in the planned intervention and the urgency of the need to adopt that measure. I want to put some facts in public domain and in the right perspective for the public to know.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has repeatedly announced that he was changing the system of ruminants (cattle, sheep and goats) husbandry in Nigeria, replacing the time-worn method of nomadism and roaming of animals with intensive and better organised system of keeping animals in paddocks and feedlot. I am aware it will take some knowledge of what is wrong in the livestock industry to understand and appreciate what the minister is talking about. He has said the constantly moving animals don’t grow as they should. He has spoken of availability of grasses of low nutritive values. It is not enough for the animals to eat grass. They need to eat grasses of high level of nutrients. This is the crux of the matter.
Animal rearing in Nigeria is far behind the age we live in, and the system warrants an urgent change. If livestock production is to be truly treated as a business, then sound science must be the bedrock, with improvement of the quality of the existing varieties of grass and of the growing conditions. Those will entail the introduction of better varieties and a deliberate enrichment of the soil so the grasses would meet the nutritional needs of the animals for optimum growth and performance. They make production more profitable, increasing the quantity of meat and milk available to the growing populace.
On the social media, everyone appears to be an expert on all subjects. Serious issues are trivialised, and trivial issues inordinately exalted. Even the least informed commentator proffers solutions to problems on the cyberspace having no bearing with reality. Here, however, is one sensible response among a flurry of criticisms and comments from Vanguard newspaper social media site, in response to the write-up that asked that “must we import grass?” The writer noted that: “As an agronomist and soil science expert there is nothing bad in importing grass if they can be cross bred with local breeds to produce better cultivars for local use. What matters is the cost- benefit to the value chain in livestock production.”
Nigeria has an estimated 15 million cattle, 34 million goats and 22 million sheep that need to be fed daily. Compare these statistics with Nigeria’s population of about 170 million and think of how many cows, sheep or goat per person. Think of the slow growth and retarded development of the indigenous breeds fed on poor quality grass. Considering the short duration of rainy season in most parts of the savannah regions of middle belt and north of Nigeria where animal rearing is done mostly the traditional way, Nigeria has been glossing over some threats and opportunities. One of the threats to the existing system is that of climate. Uncontrolled grazing by animals is capable of exposing fragile land to erosion and land degradation. This is in addition to the well-known crisis and conflicts that have become associated with incursions of roaming animals into crop farms, leading to human fatalities. If there were enough grasses on the vast landscape these conflicts would have been non-existent.
The opportunities being ignored in settled animal husbandry are enormous, assuming the statistics are right. Taking a median price of N40,000 per cow alone, we have an industry of N600 billion that does not show under Nigeria’s economic radar. This estimate ignores goats and sheep. The operators are unknown to government of any state in particular because they are constantly on the move. The government does not earn appreciable revenue from their activities, except those that pass through control posts, en-route to terminal markets. To borrow from Peter Drucker’s dictum, an industry that cannot be measured cannot be controlled. It is time we controlled the cattle, sheep and goat industry, and one way to start is to provide them guaranteed supply of feeds.
COMMENTARY
If THE quantity of animals is the reason, then the sickness of nigeria is unto death. All the vast grasslands in the country are not enough, research institutes can't modify species? But Buhari u told parents whose children are abroad to withdraw them for lack of forex, but you military dictator are importing grasses for your cows. Nigeria needs serious psychiatric attention for allowing a man like u be in power. #Biafrans are too smart to see anything good coming from u. #Ezesays
Eze Afrika
