The World Bank-supported Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) has unveiled plans to expand its reach to more stakeholders across Nigeria’s livestock sector as part of efforts to boost productivity and strengthen the value chain.

National Project Coordinator of L-PRES, Dr. Sanusi Abubakar, disclosed this at a Stakeholders Engagement Plan Validation Workshop held at the weekend in Abuja.

Abubakar said the six-year $500 million project, jointly funded by the Federal Government and the World Bank, aims to improve livestock production, productivity, commercialization and resilience across the country.

According to him, the project has engaged Global Peace Development to develop a stakeholder engagement plan to ensure wider participation of actors in the livestock value chain.

He noted that livestock development affects millions of pastoralists, smallholder farmers, women and youths, processors and communities, while also intersecting with issues such as land use, resource competition, climate variability, disease control and peaceful coexistence between farmers and herders.

He said the stakeholder engagement plan was developed in line with the World Bank’s environmental and social framework and would provide mechanisms for inclusive participation and grievance redress.

“The stakeholder engagement plan we are validating today was developed through broad consultations. This workshop provides stakeholders the opportunity to contribute to and own the document,” he said.

Also speaking, a representative of Global Peace Development, Mr. Ebruke Onagite, said the stakeholder engagement plan would guide how the project interacts with stakeholders, discloses information and addresses grievances.

He said the organisation conducted data collection across 12 states as sample points, expanding the number of identified stakeholders from about 18 to nearly 45 actors in the livestock value chain.

Onagite said findings from the study indicated varying preferences among stakeholders regarding engagement methods, including face-to-face meetings, digital communication and periodic consultations.

He added that the study also highlighted the need to strengthen structures of some stakeholder groups, many of which lack formal offices or identifiable operational bases.

Meanwhile, National Coordinator of the Abuja Women Livestock Farmers Association, Ferdinand Sonde, called for greater engagement with smallholder farmers during policy development and data collection.

Sonde said many of the challenges faced by farmers, including high cost of feed and transportation, were not adequately captured in existing research.

“For us, it is important that those conducting research engage farmers directly. The issues farmers face on the field can be quite different from what is captured in reports,” he said.

In his remarks, Director-General of Myetti Allah Breeders Association of Nigeria, Mohamed Saliou Ahamed, described the project as a welcome development for the country’s livestock sector.

He noted that the initiative is helping to address longstanding gaps, particularly through the establishment of modern veterinary hospitals and pasture development programmes.

Ahamed said pasture development would help reduce the movement of pastoralists in search of fodder, a factor often linked to farmer-herder conflicts.

He, however, stressed the need for stronger collaboration with state governments, noting that land ownership and allocation fall under their jurisdiction.

He added that although the project has made progress, more efforts are needed to address the scale of challenges facing Nigeria’s livestock sector.