The Nigerian Association of Animal Health and Husbandry Technologists (NAAHHT), Oyo State chapter, during their livestock and aquaculture farmers’ summit have identified ‘maximising the productivity and profits of livestock and aquaculture towards national economic advancement.
The summit, held at the Institute of Agricultural Research and Training (IAR &T) grounds had stakeholders of livestock produce from all parts of the country in attendance.
Speaking at the event, the chairman, (NAAHHT) Oyo State chapter, Mr Kazeem Akingboye, urged stakeholders to leverage on their respective roles to the engender productivity and profit of the subsector. He identified “low level of productivity and lack of value addition” as two major challenges facing Nigeria. “In the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that terminated in 2015 and the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) scheduled to end in 2030, eradication of poverty and sustainable food security were the major goals set up by the United Nations and our country, Nigeria has always been in focus to reduce the level of poverty and food insecurity. But, going by the Human Development index report recently released, Nigeria was number 152 out of 188 countries assessed. In another report on poverty rating, Nigeria with over170 million was adjudged to be worse than Indian with over 1.2 billion population in 2018.
“Invariably, all of us here should be more concerned because the battle for food security should be total and collective. How do we assist the country to change the rating for better?”
In her reaction, Mrs Olaoye Omobolanle Adeseeni, the representative of Oyo State Commisioner of Agriculture and Rural development, stated that the importance of Livestock cannot be over emphasized as they are useful in all entirety. They can not only be used as meat, but can be used for almost everything.
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