…As 30,000 Kogi farmers benefit

Thirty thousand (30,000) livestock farmers in Kogi State have benefitted from the 500-million-dollar World Bank intervention fund aimed at empowering livestock farmers across the country.

The project is expected to capture 21,000 direct beneficiaries and 9,000 women beneficiaries in the state, as it has fully commenced operation .

Olufemi Bolarin, project coordinator, Livestock Productivity and Resilience Project (L-PERS), Kogi State Project Implementation Unit disclosed this in Lokoja during a two-day Orientation Workshop organised for members of L – PRES project implementation Unit (PIU).

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The Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) is a multifaceted initiative aimed at enhancing the livestock sector in Nigeria, with Kogi State coming at the forefront of the project implementation.
He said: “The aim of the project was to improve the livestock production through the commercialisation of the business to enhance profits for livestock farmers in the country.”

He noted that the workshop which was all about concept, process and philosophy would drive the implementation of the project in Kogi State.

Bolarin equally explained that the World Bank in its quest to support livestock production in Nigeria has invested into the life cycle of the project across the country to the tune of $500 million, noting that states have already paid their resettlement funds for the project to commence.

He said: “The states have given us the enabling environment for the project to commence. The target beneficiaries are the livestock farmers and we are planning that at the end of the day we should be able to reach directly to 50,000 livestock farmers in Kogi State and out of this figure 30 percent will be allocated to women.

“Even those who rear animals at home, those operating at small, medium and large scale level will benefit from the project and they will make a lot of profits from the business.”

Bolarin, who hinted that L-PRES will soon commenced profiling of livestock farmers in Kogi State, assured that the exercise would last for six years.

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“To qualify for the project as a beneficiary you must have livestock either in micro, small, medium or large scale,” he said.

Speaking on the farmers/herders incessant clashes, the project coordinator attributed the crises to heavy competition for natural resources and assured that the project would invest the sum of $40 million to establish small, medium and large scale ranches.

“Grasses will be produced so that the animals will have enough food and the issue of crises that often erupted between the farmers and herders will be minimised if not eradicated,” he said.