The Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo has inaugurated the National Livestock Transformation Plan (NLTP) at the Gongoshi Grazing Reserve in Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of Adamawa.
Osinbajo said that the plan is designed to run from 2019-2028 as part of the Federal Government’s initiative in collaboration with States under the auspices of the National Economic Council (NEC).
The plan is targeted at supporting the development of Nigeria’s livestock sector and it is to be implemented in seven pilot states of Adamawa, Benue, Kaduna, Plateau, Nasarawa, Taraba and Zamfara.
According to the Vice President, the plan will be implemented as a collaboration project between the Federal and State governments, farmers, pastoralists and private investors.
“In this plan, the State Government or private investors provide the land. The federal government does not and will not take any land from a State or local government.
“Any participating state will provide the land and its own contribution to the project while federal government merely supports.
“It is a plan that hopes to birth tailor-made ranches where cattle are bred, and meat and dairy products are produced using modern livestock breeding and dairy methods.
“This solves the problem of cattle grazing into and destroying farmlands. It ensures a practical response to the pressures on water and pasture by forces of climate change,” Osinbajo said.