FOA calls for appropriate legislation to support livestock development

The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has called for appropriate legislation to support policies in order to achieve sustainable development in the Nigeria's livestock sector.

FAO's Country Representative in Nigeria, Ms Louise Setshwaelo, made the call in Abuja on Wednesday during a retreat on ``Livestock and Dairy Development in Nigeria.’’
The retreat was organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in collaboration with African Business Roundtable.
‎``Regulations underpinning the ranches will be necessary to ensure that over stocking and degradation of ranch land is avoided as this can cause serious environmental problems.
``The regulatory framework, therefore, should have provisions for stock‎ control, making ranchers responsible for proper management of the ranches and ranch land resources.
``Enforcement of these regulations will be paramount to success‎,’’ she added.
Setshwaelo said that impressive progress had been made in the poultry industry, an indication that success was feasible in the beef and the dairy industries.
She said to address the challenges in the livestock sector; there was need to prioritise areas of concern.
Setshwaelo said when addressed, it would ultimately make tangible impact on livestock productivity, livelihood and competitiveness.
``The key challenge is to ensure that necessary supports were provided in terms of institutions, human resource capacity, finance, as well as legal framework to ensure effective implementation of the new policies.
``Tough decisions are needed to be made‎ given the sensitive nature of land use in the country; proper assessment to determine the appropriate livestock numbers that can be carried on land demarcated for the ranches must be made.
``For instance, a 5,000 hectares ranch in a very arid area like those in northern part of the country may be able to carry 3,500 cattle; 10 hectares per livestock unit.
``The risk of land degradation will be high unless there is substantive supplementary feeding,’’ she said.
Setshwaelo said demarcation of land without fencing would not work as there was need for a minimum of perimeter fence around a ranch to restrict straying of livestock.
She opined that because ranch development was capital intensive, financing with longer repayment terms would be critical to enable ranchers put in place minimal infrastructure needed.
She said deliberate efforts needed to be made by financial institutions to develop appropriate portfolios, including longer grace period for repayment of loans for ranch development‎.
Setshwaelo said there were many other issues such as breed improvement and animal health that needed to be addressed and pledged the support of FAO to the development of ranches. 

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