L-PRES Project Plans Wider Reach for Livestock Farmers

The World Bank-supported Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project, L-PRES, says it plans to expand its activities to reach more stakeholders in Nigeria’s livestock sector. The move is aimed at improving productivity and strengthening the livestock value chain.

National Project Coordinator of L-PRES, Dr. Sanusi Abubakar, announced the plan during a Stakeholders Engagement Plan Validation Workshop held in Abuja. He said the six-year 500-million-dollar project is jointly funded by the Federal Government and the World Bank.

Abubakar said the project is designed to improve livestock production, productivity, commercialization and resilience across the country. He added that Global Peace Development was engaged to develop a stakeholder engagement plan to ensure broader participation across the livestock value chain.

According to him, livestock development involves pastoralists, smallholder farmers, women, youths, processors and communities. He said the sector also relates to land use, resource competition, climate variability, disease control and peaceful coexistence between farmers and herders.

A representative of Global Peace Development, Mr. Ebruke Onagite, said the engagement plan would guide how the project interacts with stakeholders, shares information and handles grievances. He said data collection carried out in 12 states increased the number of identified stakeholders from about 18 to nearly 45 groups in the livestock value chain.

Meanwhile, National Coordinator of the Abuja Women Livestock Farmers Association, Ferdinand Sonde, called for stronger engagement with smallholder farmers during policy development and research. The Director-General of the Myetti Allah Breeders Association of Nigeria, Mohamed Saliou Ahamed, described the project as important for the livestock sector but said collaboration with state governments remains necessary because land allocation is under their control.