FCT Rolls Out 10-year Livestock Production Plan

Olawale Ajimotokan

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has launched a livestock development and implementation plan with a gestation period of 10 years.

The FCT Minister of State Dr. Ramatu Tijjani Aliyu, launched the plan yesterday at the opening ceremony of a two-day stakeholders’ engagement meeting.

She stated that the plan was aimed at facilitating and enhancing the provision of critical infrastructure and resolving all social impediments towards the full development of the four grazing reserves in the FCT.

The minister noted that the outcome of the meeting is expected to provide the FCT Administration with a roadmap towards a stable and prosperous livestock sub-sector and contribute to the desire to achieve food and nutrition security, create needed jobs, and stimulate further diversification of the economy away from the oil sector.

Aliyu revealed that the agriculture sector contributed about 22.36 per cent to the national GDP in the first quarter of 2022, with the livestock sub-sector contributing about seven per cent to that figure, regretting that the potential that would enable efficient growth
of the sector has yet to be
activated.

According to him, “While this underscores sector and sub-sector relevance in economic growth, achieving targeted growth in livestock output has been slow.

“Projections suggest that with the exponential rise in human population, especially in urban settings like the FCT, the demand for livestock products such as poultry, beef, and milk will grow without a commensurate capacity of the livestock industry to meet needs.”

She, therefore, promised that the FCTA would provide the needed environment for the operators to excel.

Earlier, the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr. Adesola Olusade, who was represented by the Director, Human Resource Management, Malam Mohammed Bashir, stressed that this dynamic approach was in tune with modern institutional governance that lays emphasis on structured planning as a necessary prerequisite to successful programmes implementation.