Ondo Govt., FAO Train Livestock Farmers

The Ondo State Government in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has organised a three-day training for stakeholders and farmers on feedlot operational system.
Speaking at the opening of the event on Tuesday in Akure, Gov. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo State, explained that the feedlot operational system was a variant of ranching whereby livestocks are confined for better management and profitability.

Supreme reports that the training was organised for corporate bodies, religious organisations and members of the public and individuals with interest in cattle, sheep and goat value chain business.
Akeredolu, represented by the Senior Special Assistant on Agriculture and Agricbusiness, Pastor Akin Olotu, said that the initiative was part of his plan to promote peaceful coexistence among inhabitants of the state.

“Today, our farmers have been driven out of their traditional occupations occasioned by herders’ harassment, many lives have been lost, many of our women raped and deprived.
“Billions of Naira worth of crops were ravaged and the country has continued to be confronted with constant threat to national security as a result of the activities of the nomadic herders.
“All these put together informed our administration’s decision to lead the campaign to return to the good old days of Feedlot Operational System of keeping livestock.

“Furthermore, it is an indisputable fact that the culture of moving large herds of cattle from one part of the country to the other in this 21st century is barbaric, antiquated, old-fashioned.
“And has in recent years been enormously unbeneficial because of its threat to national security, cohesion and food security.
“Therefore, it is with sense of pride that I say that our administration deemed
it expedient to revamp and reintroduce ranching with support from the Federal Government.

“FeedIot Operational System is a variant of ranching where our livestocks are confined for better management, profitability and to mitigate the myriads of problems associated with open grazing of cattle,” he said.
Earlier, the representative of the FAO, Mrs Adeola Akinrinola, said the state government had requested for the FAO’s technical support to transform the livestock sector through introduction of feedlot operation for farmers.

Akinrinola said that the organisation would also support the state government to raise technical capacities of investors in livestock to engage in business oriented livestock production and raise livestocks using feed resources.
“Feedlot operations for farmers demonstrates efficient use of feed to produce high quality fatten stock in the state and improve intensive crop livestock integration among farmers and herdsmen,” she said.

Also, Chairman of the Ondo State Agricbusiness Empowerment Centre (OSAEC), Pastor Akin Olotu, while speaking with newsmen on the sidelines of the event, said confining animals was the best way of maximising profit of reared animals.
Olotu said the stress animals, especially cattle, go through in the normadic way of rearing led to a loss of valuable products that could have added to the nutrients and profits that could have been made out of them.
He said that the confinement of livestocks would be in the interest of herders and their families, and would ensure a “settled life” for them.