TheCable

Sabo Nanono, minister of agriculture and rural development, says 22 states and the federal capital territory (FCT) have registered for the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP).

Nanono said this at the meeting of the national council on agriculture and rural development in Abuja, on Thursday.

The NLTP was introduced by the federal government to address the farmer-herder crisis in the country.

The minister said a Dutch consortium that is partnering with the federal government for the implementation of the first pilot state has been able to attract a grant from the Netherlands for the start-up of the pilot programme in Nasarawa state.

He said the pilot site will serve as “a hub for knowledge and skills transfer to the pastoralist community who will be encouraged and hand-held to adopt ranching” and practice what they have learnt.

He added that necessary incentives will also be given to the participating pastoralists.

“We are all aware of the troubles that our nation is going through with respect to the farmers-herders clashes which have often produced violent and expensive consequences,” Nanono said.

“This administration is more committed than ever to resolve this problem on a more permanent solution.

“To this end, 22 states and the federal capital territory have registered with the NLTP Office, out of which 10 states have created their own teams which have been trained by the federal office.

“Seven of these 10 states have also earmarked about 19 grazing reserves for the implementation of the NLTP, with a total land size of approximately 400,000 hectares.

“It is, therefore, safe to say that the NLTP, when fully implemented, will bring an end to the incessant clashes between the farmers and herdsmen.

“A bigger impact on Nigeria’s economy will be made when we are able to spend less on importation of dairy and beef products which currently constitute a significant percentage of Nigeria’s food import.”

Nanono also said the federal government has also entered into a partnership with Brazil to drive its agriculture mechanisation programme and ensure food sufficiency.

He said the partnership had yielded an agricultural mechanisation loan to the tune of €995 million.

“In our effort to improve the agricultural production profile of the country, we have entered into a partnership with the government of Brazil through one of their foremost technology transfer institutions, the Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV),” he said.

“This partnership has yielded agricultural mechanisation loan to the tune of nine hundred and ninety-five million euros(€995m).

“This shall be granted to Nigerian entrepreneurs to establish service centres across all the 774 local governments of the country, selling services to all categories of farmers and thereby helping to improve their productivity.

“The service centres shall be of either a type 1, supporting production activities; or a type 2, supporting processing and packaging activities.

“We also have the target to improve on the export front and to this end, necessary support is being given for the increase in the export of agricultural commodities like sesame, hibiscus, cotton and sorghum.”