Stakeholders in the pastoral farming community have recommended the adoption of information on optimal breeding practices and access to genetic data to improve livestock quality as essential factors to boost the industry.
The recommendations, were part of the resolutions at the end of African Union Inter-African Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)’s workshop on technical planning and implementation of African Pastoral Markets Development (APMD) platform held in Abuja.
They emphasised the necessity of establishing an animal information system, which would significantly aid in the efficient rollout of the APMD platform, ensuring greater profitability for livestock farmers.
The workshop brought together representatives from Nigeria, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Cameroon. AU-IBAR, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (B&MGF), is establishing and operationalising the APMD Platform to enable market-driven, adaptive transformations in pastoralism and plays a critical role in fostering inclusive agricultural transformation across Africa.
Underscoring the importance of enhancing the animal health information system, the workshop noted that successful implementation of the platform will depend on its ability to provide up-to-date pricing information for various livestock species, connections to processors, wholesalers, and retailers to streamline the selling process and reduce time to market, insights based on collected data to help farmers make informed selling decisions.
The other components of the platform recommended were an online forum for farmers to share experiences, ask questions, and collaborate on common challenges.
Also, the workshop urged AU-IBAR to work with the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development and other agencies to implement a robust database to track animal health, breeding cycles, and productivity, allowing farmers to make informed decisions.
A key plea, the workshop made, was for research institutes and innovators to be powered to find sustainable solutions to the concerns of stakeholders in the sector, especially the rising high cost for conveying cattle from breeding areas to major markets across the country.
The workshop urged authorities in the Sahel region to facilitate border crossing procedures and improve the efficiency and health safety of slaughterhouses and butcheries.
It also urged authorities to specifically address the challenges of cattle transport operations between Nigeria, Chad, Burkina Faso, Benin and Cameroon. Despite its importance in livestock farming, the workshop noted that farmers face a lot of constraints including availability and accessibility of quality animal feed, long distances between production and consumption areas, lack of insurance in the reservation system, difficulties in locating storage facilities amongst others.
Earlier, the Director, AU-IBAR, Dr. Huyam Salih, represented by APMD Platform Project Coordinator, Prof Ahmed Elbeltagy, emphasised that the platform aims to bolster the livestock sector and safeguard rural incomes derived from meat and livestock products.
She described the APMD Platform as a beacon of hope for millions of pastoralists, stating that the launch of the platform occurs at a pivotal moment, allowing stakeholders to address existing challenges.
“By promoting collaboration and innovation, we can create sustainable growth opportunities. This workshop is a crucial step towards developing strategies that empower pastoral communities and facilitate transformation.”
While declaring the workshop open, the Minister of State, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi noted that the importance of an improved and efficient production process in pastoral farming cannot be overstated, where cattle farming accounts for a huge size of the agricultural contribution to national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). For this reason, he noted that promoting productive, resilient, and healthy agro pastoral systems has become a major concern for the Federal government.
