Yemisi Izuora
Nigeria has signaled a modernization programme to boost its livestock industry.
The plans will be implemented with strong cooperation with the French Development Agency (AFD) to support the implementation of the country’s national ranching policy as the government seeks to modernize the country’s livestock sector.
The initiative emerged from a meeting between Idi Mukhtar Maiha, Nigeria’s Minister of Livestock Development, and an AFD delegation led by the Agency’s country director, Jacky Amprou.
A 2015 study by the U.S.-based humanitarian organization Mercy Corps estimated that farmer-herder conflicts cost Nigeria nearly $13.7 billion annually.
The livestock sector contributes 35 per cent of Nigeria’s agricultural gross domestic product and plays a strategic role in the rural economy.
However, the industry remains largely dominated by pastoralism, prompting the government to pursue reforms aimed at improving productivity and reducing conflicts.
President Bola Tinubu’s national ranching policy forms part of a broader livestock sector reform launched in 2023.
The reform aims to accelerate the transition from traditional open grazing, which relies on the seasonal movement of livestock, to a more structured production model centered on dedicated ranching infrastructure.
The government plans to establish modern ranches that provide livestock producers with managed grazing land, water infrastructure, veterinary services, animal feed, livestock genetic improvement programs and marketing facilities.
Nigeria reinforced that strategy in 2024 by creating a dedicated Ministry of Livestock Development to oversee the sector’s transformation.
However, much of the country’s livestock production still depends on mobile pastoralism, under which herds move in search of grazing land and water. While that system supports many pastoral communities, it also limits productivity in milk and meat production and contributes to recurring conflicts between herders and farmers.
Nigeria faces frequent farmer-herder clashes, as do many African countries where pastoralism dominates livestock production. Analysts have extensively documented the causes of these conflicts, which primarily stem from limited and poorly managed grazing resources. The resulting competition often leads to crop destruction by livestock and violent confrontations between farming and pastoral communities.
The issue carries significant economic and security implications.
“This partnership would develop selected grazing reserves into pilot ranches (proofs of concept), with the objective of reducing transhumance, improving livestock productivity, and promoting peace, security and sustainable rural development,” the Ministry of Livestock Development said in a statement.
Before opening discussions with AFD, the Nigerian government had already engaged private-sector investors to finance ranching infrastructure.
In May, the Ministry of Livestock Development received an investment proposal from local company Consolidated Investment Limited, which plans to develop modern livestock production hubs incorporating dairy production, animal feed manufacturing and integrated farming systems.
The government acknowledged that implementing the national ranching policy will require substantial investment in infrastructure. In June, the Ministry of Livestock Development announced that it had identified 470 legally protected grazing reserves across the country as part of its plan to gradually phase out open grazing.
The federal government is working with state governments to rehabilitate, equip and adapt these reserves to meet the needs of livestock producers and other participants across the livestock value chain.
The upgraded reserves will include water infrastructure, veterinary services, forage production facilities and livestock collection and marketing centers.
Beyond securing land, the success of the ranching policy will depend on the government’s ability to mobilize financing, gain the support of pastoral communities and build a production model capable of reducing Nigeria’s dependence on dairy and meat imports.