‘Livestock Contributes 44% To W’Africa’s GDP’

Livestock production con
tributes about 44 per cent to most countries Gross Domestic Product (GDP) n West Africa, including Nigeria.
In a release made available to The Tide recently by AgroNigeria, the disclosure was made by a Livestock System Research Specialist, Professor Jerome Gefu.
Gefu who is also an expert in agro-pastoral production system from National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI), Shika, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria stated this while speaking as the keynote speaker at the 3rd Annual In-House Research Review and Exhibition in Abeokuta.
He stressed the potentials in livestock production as the exhibition was themed: Climate Change, Fulani pastoralists production system and food security in Nigeria.
The expert cautioned that a food secured country is one which has the ability to feed itself over a long period of time without having to source for food aids from anywhere.
Gefu added that in the West African Sub-region, for instance, livestock contributes about 44 per cent with Mali contributing greatly in the region despite the effects of climate change.
Speaking earlier, the Vice Chancellor of the Institution and Chief host, Professor Olusola Oyewole, represented by the Deputy Vice-chancellor, Academics, Professor Olalale Enikuomehin, said having undergone tremendous transformation within 10 years the process has been re-positioned to help tackle food insecurity and the parlous agricultural system in Nigeria.
He said this was made possible through its multi-disciplinary research approach in line with the institution’s tripodal mandate comprising teaching, research and extension services.
In his remark, Director, Institute of Food Security, Environmental Resources and Agricultural Research (IFSE RAR), Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Abeokuta, Professor Akinwumi Omotayo, said that the choice of the theme of the address emanated from the institution’s comprehensive analysis of the state of food insecurity and food dependency in South-Western Nigeria.