Borno targets food security as association lauds $2.5b livestock investment

GOVERNOR Babagana Zulum has established the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries Development (MILFD) to meet the food requirements of Borno State.

According to him, the distribution of food items to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps and host communities cannot be sustained by the state government.

Zulum unveiled the new ministry, yesterday, in Maiduguri, while swearing in two commissioners for the Ministries of Finance and Economic Development, and the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RRR), Isa Halidu, and Umar Lawan Dalorima.

“The Deputy Governor, Usman Kadafur, will oversee the newly established ministry to overcome the challenges of food security in the state,” he clarified.

Zulum also pledged to introduce farming in schools, where pupils and students could feed themselves, including their principals, head teachers and teachers.

Additionally, he said the administration was to discontinue dependence on the monthly federation allocations to execute the various projects and programmes in the state.

SIMILARLY, the Nigeria Veterinary Medical Association (NVMA) has applauded the $2.5 billion investment by a multinational company, JBS Group, the second largest meat processing operator globally.
The company claimed the capacity to process 33,000 cattle and over eight million birds daily, using advanced zero-waste practices.

President of NVMA, Dr Moses Arokoyo, in a statement, commended President Bola Tinubu, Minister of Livestock Development and his Agriculture and Food Security counterpart for forging partnership with the multinational.

He said veterinary services in the country also contributed significantly to the achievement, stating that the eradication of Rinderpest and control of FMD, as well as other emerging and re-emerging trans-border animal diseases created an enabling environment for commodity-based trade and export, as well as reposed confidence in foreign investors.

Arokoyo stated that the JBS Group was the largest employer of labour in Brazil, with presence in about 50 countries, and over $79 billion revenue already this year.