The Kwara State Government has trained 100 livestock farmers on the conservation and preservation of forage crops to promote sustainable livestock feed production and strengthen the state’s livestock value chain.
The five-day intensive training was organised by the Kwara State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) and conducted by Hilltop Intercontinental and Business Services Limited at the National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM), Idofian.
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Speaking at the opening ceremony, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, represented by the Commissioner for Livestock Development, Mrs Oloruntoyosi Thomas, said there was no longer an excuse for youth unemployment in the state, given the government’s investments in the livestock sector.
The governor urged participants to apply the knowledge acquired during the training to develop sustainable businesses and create employment opportunities.
He said L-PRES and other strategic interventions, including the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ), were helping to build a livestock sector based on productivity, resilience and commercialisation.
According to him, 8,951 people have been profiled across selected livestock value chains, while about 100 stakeholder engagements involving communities and value-chain actors have been conducted since L-PRES activities began in Kwara in October 2023.
AbdulRazaq said his administration was focused not merely on implementing programmes but on achieving measurable results and impact.
He disclosed that 238,718 animals had been vaccinated against major livestock diseases, including cattle, sheep, goats and poultry, with more than 1,100 livestock farmers directly benefiting from the vaccination programme.
The governor added that the state had rehabilitated and equipped its veterinary laboratory in Ilorin and strengthened the vaccine cold-chain system with solar power, leading to an increase in the number of animals screened by the laboratory from 157 to 246.
A member of the Presidential Livestock Reforms Implementation Committee, Professor Demo Kalla, said improved forage production and conservation could help reduce competition over scarce resources and prevent conflicts between farmers and herders.
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Kalla, who is also Director of the TETFUND Centre of Excellence on Food Security, Dairy Research and Development Centre at Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, said the training would equip farmers with practical skills to produce and preserve livestock feed.
He said the programme provided opportunities for youths, women and other actors in the livestock value chain to acquire skills capable of improving their livelihoods and contributing to Nigeria’s food and feed security.
Kalla described feed shortage as a major factor capable of worsening competition for resources and fuelling farmer-herder conflicts.
He said the training could become a game changer by creating new economic opportunities, improving livelihoods and increasing the production of animal-source foods.
He also described the establishment of the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development as a major step towards giving focused attention to Nigeria’s livestock economy.
The State Project Coordinator of L-PRES, Mr Olusoji Oyawoye, said the training was part of efforts to strengthen the capacity of livestock farmers and achieve the project’s objective of improving productivity and commercialisation.
He said the programme was also aimed at helping more people in Kwara State become job creators within the livestock sector.
The Director of Ranch and Pastoral Resources Development in the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, Hakeem Ibilade, said the ministry had made progress since its establishment but stressed that meaningful agricultural development required time.
Ibilade explained that livestock development involved biological and administrative processes with specific timelines before results could be achieved.
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He assured Nigerians that the ministry would sustain efforts to develop the livestock sector and deliver lasting results.
The training brought together livestock farmers and other stakeholders as part of broader efforts to improve forage production, strengthen the livestock value chain and promote sustainable feed production in Kwara State.