FG Set to Produce Animal Feed Policy 

By Fadekemi Ajakaiye 

The federal government is set to produce a National Animal Feed Policy Document.

The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe stated this during the African Union InterAfrican Bureau for Animal Resources (AU-IBAR)’s  Resilient African Feed and Fodder Systems (RAFFS) Project inception forum in Abuja, recently.

Umakhihe, who was represented by the Director Special Duties, Mrs. Fausat Lawal, stressed the importance of the Resilient African Feed and Fodder Systems (RAFFS) project inception workshop, and  profiling and launch of AWARFA-N Nigeria, as well as the launch of the feed and fodder assessment in Nigeria, 

The Permanent Secretary said it was a timely  intervention that would strengthen the solutions to tackle food security and identify fodder opportunities to support farmers.

He said the federal government is concerned about the rising cost of feed, particularly its impact on production and sale of farm produce.

He said the “government is determined to promote innovative approaches to animal feed production to militate the challenges against the sector.

“The  COVID-19 pandemic and vulnerability to natural disasters highlighted the urgency to further boost the nation’ food security.

He  said  challenges such as  high cost of feed has sparked a hike in food prices,” he said.

The Director, Department of Animal Husbandry Services, Mrs. Winnie Lai Solarin stated that “fodder development will help to rectify feed shortages and  improve  livestock production,

“The feed sector has provided an opportunity to reduce imports with increased fodder production.”

According to the Director, AU-IBAR, Dr Huyam Salih Nigeria and the rest of Africa are highly dependent on global importation of livestock products with an annual import bill of over $4 billion. 

Salih, who was represented by RAFFS Project Officer, Dr Sarah Ashanut Ossiya, stated that there is “loss of 9.5 million livestock, worth over $2 billion, in the recent drought in the Greater of Africa region.

“This is equivalent to about twice the total food import budget for Kenya (which according to KNBS stood at 1.2 billion USD in 2022) or thrice the export value of coffee from Uganda, Africa’s largest coffee exporter, which earned 876 million USD in 2022 (Food Business Africa). Huge genetic resources developed over decades, key to adaptation to climate change and for livelihoods and incomes especially among pastoralists and small holders who produce over 80 to 90% of meat and milk. 

“There were also huge losses for downstream processing and retailing businesses, many unable to service loans closed business.“

She said, “In the West Africa and Central Africa regions, some of the costs of unarticulated feed and fodder sectors is the persistent conflicts over feed resources between herders or breeders and crop farmers. This has escalated to tribal and even religion-based divides, and yet the underlying factors could include feed and fodder constraints. With the magnitude of evidence, she stressed the need to address the gaps. “Achieving this will require a well-developed feed and fodder sector to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement which has emerged as lucrative and growing market.” 

Livestock assets, she said, contribute to food security and that they are “an important source of protein and minerals for nutritional security, hence, the project is seeking to engage with a wide range of stakeholders to strengthen the capacity of farmers to experiment with and use fodder technologies to make the sector more productive, resilient, equitable and sustainable.”

The project approach was a co-designed “with the objective to work public and private sector partners, to co-create and co-deliver demand-driven innovation packages for feed and fodder production that aims to improve livelihoods and farmers ability to adapt to a changing climate and inclusiveness through livestock.

“Nigeria is one of the six core countries for the implementation of the project. Others are  Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.    “Nigeria is the  second country in which the organisation was launching the Resilient Feeds and Fodder Systems Project initiatives. The Nigeria RAFFS Project Inception Workshop gives visibility to the RAFFS Project and importance of improving access to feed and fodder, and to participate in rolling out the in-country Assessment of the effect of the 3Cs crises Climate Change, Covid-19 and the Eastern Europe Conflict on Feed and Fodder and livestock sourced foods supply chains.”

The findings will inform development of country short-term interventions to address feed and fodder shortages, she said, and that the RAFFS Project will support consolidation of its five-year strategy and resource mobilisation plan.

She said, “Nigerians and most neighbouring countries are consuming well below global average of per capita consumption of livestock sourced proteins. For this reason, there is a need to link livestock production to meeting human nutrition targets.”