The Kwara State Government says its livestock reforms are beginning to deliver stronger productivity and better economic opportunities for farmers and pastoralists, with the state linking the progress largely to interventions under the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project and other programmes covering key areas of the livestock value chain.
Commissioner for Livestock Development, Oloruntoyosi Thomas, said the interventions were producing measurable gains in animal productivity while reviewing the achievements of the administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq in the livestock sector.
According to her, the government’s broader objective is to transform livestock production from a largely subsistence activity into a commercially oriented industry that can support employment, improve food availability and raise household incomes in rural communities.
Thomas disclosed that average milk output per cow had increased from 274.5 litres annually at the beginning of the intervention to 352.2 litres in 2025. She said the figure represented a 28.3 per cent improvement.
There were also notable increases in meat production, with the average carcass weight of cattle rising from 135kg to 190.8kg. For sheep, the average carcass weight increased from 14.2kg to 23.7kg.
The commissioner attributed the improvements to a combination of better animal health services, capacity building for farmers, infrastructure development, pasture interventions and efforts to make livestock production more commercially attractive.
She said the state had also stepped up disease prevention measures, resulting in the vaccination of 238,718 animals comprising cattle, sheep, goats and poultry. More than 1,100 livestock farmers benefited from the exercise.
Since the L-PRES programme began in October 2023, Thomas said the government had profiled 8,951 individuals operating across selected livestock value chains. She added that approximately 100 meetings and engagements had been held with communities and stakeholders involved in the sector.
Efforts to strengthen veterinary services have also received attention. The government rehabilitated and equipped the veterinary laboratory in Ilorin and improved the vaccine cold chain through the installation of solar power.
The measures, she said, had helped increase the number of animals screened at the laboratory from 157 to 246.
Beyond veterinary care, the government has invested in facilities intended to make livestock production more efficient and sustainable. These include solar powered boreholes, livestock drinking troughs, cattle sheds, feedlots and elevated pens for goats.
Thomas said 10 integrated ruminant farming clusters had been established, bringing together water facilities, animal housing, cattle dips, solar lighting and pasture demonstration areas.
She explained that the clusters were designed to give livestock producers better operating conditions while promoting improved husbandry practices.
Farmer training has also formed part of the intervention. The commissioner said 1,509 livestock farmers had received training in areas including small ruminant production, the use of crop residues, commercial fodder production and bull fattening.
She stressed that improving productivity would require more than physical infrastructure, noting that farmers needed access to knowledge, technical assistance and modern production methods.
On efforts to prepare the sector for climate related pressures, Thomas said about 34 per cent of targeted farmers had adopted climate smart technologies.
She added that Automatic Weather Stations had been installed in collaboration with the Nigerian Meteorological Agency and Michigan State University to provide more localised weather information.
The data generated from the stations, according to her, would help farmers and authorities plan for drought, manage pasture and water resources and make better livestock production decisions.
Despite the progress, the commissioner acknowledged that several challenges continued to constrain the sector. These include conflicts between farmers and herders, limited access to veterinary and extension services among women, weak artificial insemination and breeding systems, inadequate pasture production and poor maintenance of infrastructure after completion.
She therefore urged increased private sector involvement in the livestock economy, particularly in areas such as livestock marketing, feed processing and cold chain facilities.
Thomas said government alone could not provide all the investment required to develop the industry, stressing that private capital would be necessary to fully exploit opportunities across the livestock value chain.
She said the administration would sustain efforts to expand pasture and fodder production, improve animal health and breeding services and strengthen the maintenance of livestock facilities.
The commissioner added that the government would also intensify measures to bring more women and young people into the livestock economy and create conditions capable of attracting greater private investment.
