… And Spatial Identification of Livestock Resources in Gombe State.

 

Gombe Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) has pledged to provide the needed support for the conduct of a survey on the socio economic status of livestock farmers and spatial identification of livestock resources in the state initiated by the National L-PRES Project Office.

The Project Coordinator Professor Usman Bello Abubakar made this known today at the L-PRES conference hall when he received a team led by Dr. Dahiru Baba from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria commissioned to conduct the exercise.

 

Professor Abubakar who commended the National L-PRES Office for the initiative noted the significance of the survey towards supporting the existing efforts so far made by the project to reposition the livestock sector in Gombe state.

 

He highlighted that Gombe State Governor Alhaji Muhamadu Inuwa Yahaya has provided the enabling environment for the project to operate and commended both National L-PRES Project Office and the World Bank for their support.

 

He described the support as instrumental to the achievements recorded including the rehabilitation of slaughter slabs, livestock markets and provision of solar powered boreholes with drinking troughs for livestock in various communities across the state.

 

The Project Coordinator said livestock training schools were also rehabilitated and upgraded to train livestock extension workers to provide services at community level.

He noted that the Project had equally conducted various trainings programs for stakeholders to equip them with needed knowledge and skills to ensure the successful implementation of the project in the state.

He stated that the famous Wawa Zange Grazing Reserve sharing common boundaries with four local governments areas in the state neglected for decades is now alive undergoing major rehabilitation and upgrade with two earth dams already completed to provide drinking water for livestock in addition to plan for construction of modern facilities needed to make the reserve a befitting hub of global livestock business activities.

 

To curb incessant conflict between farmers and herders the Project Coordinator explained that a contract has been awarded to restore 37 cattle routes and 8 grazing reserve in the state.

 

The Project Coordinator also hinted that arrangements are underway to establish an Ultra Modern International Livestock Market that will accommodate all species of livestock including cattle, sheep and goat and poultry.

 

He said the digitilized market will display products on the market website for potential online buyers to access, pointing out that animals would be purchased, processed and packaged for delivery to customers while a tannery and leather industry would also be established in the livestock market.

He said the Project will soon commence the process Artificial Insemination to improve fertility among livestock and increase beef and dairy production to maximize profit margins among livestock farmers.

 

Earlier in his opening remarks, the survey Team leader Dr. Dahiru Baba commended Gombe L-PRES for its remarkable achievements

within a short period and commended the commitment of the Project Coordinator and his team for the successess recorded.

Dr. Dahiru explained that the aim of the survey is to provide basic information about the social and economic condition of livestock farmers in the state and as well identify

 

livestock resources available that will guide in providing data for both present and future interventions in the sector.

He hinted that the survey will be two fold using enumerators for the baseline survey while the second fold will involve focus groups discussion and key informant interviews spread across two local government areas comprising eight communities

He further hinted that an App will be develop to provide valuable livestock information that will be accessible to stakeholders and the general public.

The interactive session with survey team provided an avenue for discussion on wide variety of issues relating to the development of the livestock sector and the way foword.