Animals in livestock farming have a sad existence. How do we change this? Politicians need to bring stronger animal protection policies and for us to rethink our own eating habits.
In this article, we will state clearly top solutions to the problems of livestock farming. We need to implement these recommendations if we have desire to fight food insecurity in this country. Human’s need for food is insatiable, for as long as we keep being humans, there will always be an endless need for food. Humans get food from two major sources which are animals and plants.
Livestock
farming is the most common method of making food from animals. It is simply
defined as the process of rearing animals mainly for consumption.
According
to the National Animal Production Research Institute ﴾NAPRI﴿, livestock
accounts for one third of Nigeria’s agricultural GDP, providing income,
employment, food, farm energy, manure, fuel and transport. They are also a
major source of government revenue that is through taxation and export
earnings.
What is Livestock Farming?
Livestock
farming is simply the management and breeding of domestic, livestock or farm
animals for the purpose of obtaining their meat and products (milk, eggs,
leather, etc.).
It
can also be described as the economic activity that involves raising domestic
animals for human Livestock farming is one of the oldest economic activities of
man started by early men. It guarantees food supply, hides, skins, bones, milk
and other animal products without going to the forest to hunt. Livestock
farming includes the breeding of cattle, sheep, pigs, goats, poultry, rabbits,
snails, fishes, and honeybees.
In
poultry farming, the number of animals per farm has increased with the farms
having 100,000 hens huddled together in the tightest spaces.
To
keep production costs as low as possible, there is ultra-modern farming houses
designed for efficiency, without any sleeping or walking areas for the animals.
How can the situation be Solve?
Providing
better living conditions with adequate space Distributing animals in
appropriate groups to promote social behaviour Offering possibility of outdoor
exercise Providing sufficient opportunities for movement Allowing daylight and
structured environment If animals are allowed to perform species-specific
behaviour, painful manipulations may not be required, thus resulting in cost
cutting. However, awareness of the factory owners is necessary in that case.
Why we should find Discovery
Solutions to the Problems of Livestock Farming?
Nigeria
currently imports foreign milk at a rate of 1 million dollars per day. With
this statistic, it is safe to say that the country is failing in the area of
satisfying its daily demand for milk.
One
of the major reasons why the country has failed to satisfy its demand for milk
is the hesitance on the part of investors.
Potential
investors in this sector are always overwhelmed with diffidence and indecision.
They fear failure and are mostly uncertain about what they are about to step
into.
This
is mostly due to lack of enlightenment, the dwindling economy of the country
and the amount of time taken before profits are made in livestock business.
Another
reason is the failure of livestock owners to embrace modern techniques and
innovations. In Nigeria, cattle accounts for 50% of the nation’s meat supply,
while sheep and goats accounts for 20 and 5% respectively.
Cattle
also provide 90% of the total annual milk output, while sheep and goats account
for less than 10%. This statistics leaves cattle as the most sought after
source of animal protein. 90% of Nigeria’s cattle population is predominantly owned
by nomadic pastorals that are normally oblivious of modern techniques and
innovations.
Other reasons why Nigeria has failed to satisfy its demand for milk is the costs of input and hybrids.
Highly productive animal breeds and modern livestock farming
equipment are not very affordable, most rural farmers are not always able to
acquire them, therefore they stick with the less productive local breeds and
productivity is undermined.
Also,
lack of milk collection centers in the rural areas discourages people in rural
areas to take up commercial livestock farming as s readily available market
isn’t always close.
Step by step guide on how Farmers should Solve Livestock Farming Problems
· Allowing
daylight and structured environment
· Distributing
animals in appropriate groups to promote social behavior
· Offering
possibility of outdoor exercise
· Providing
better living conditions with adequate space
· Providing
sufficient opportunities for movement
Top Solutions to the Problems
of Livestock Farming
Listed
below are top solutions to the problems of livestock farming:
1.
Provision of adequate Livestock Health Care Plan
2.
Government Support
3.
Provision of Credits to Livestock Farmers
4.
Provision of education to Livestock Farmers
5.
Introduction of New Farming Methods to Livestock Farmers
7.
Livestock research
8.
Settling the Nomads
9.
Provision of Adequate Animal Housing
10.
Provision of Good Stock Routes and Conflict between Herders and Farmers
11.
Availability of Water Especially in the Dry Season Animal Disease
Let us study in details.
1. Provision of adequate Livestock Health Care Plan
In
finding solution to problems to livestock farming, adequate attention should be
paid to the health of livestock and also, the rural livestock farmers and
herders should also be educated on the importance of employing the services of
a certified veterinarian whenever there is an outbreak of diseases. This will
help curtail morbidity as well as reducing the spread of livestock diseases
whenever there is an outbreak.
2. Government Support
Adequate
government support is necessary and instrumental to the development of
livestock farming in Nigeria. Government needs to put adequate infrastructures
in place to aid the growth of the livestock farming sector. Infrastructures
like good roads, good rail system and electricity will all boost the current
level of productivity.
3. Provision of Credits to Livestock Farmers
To
improve livestock farming, there should be readily available bank credits to
facilitate the production. Nigerian banks hardly give out loans to the Fulani
herders. Since the Fulanis control in Nigeria, the majority of the bulk of
livestock in the country, efforts should be made towards making loans available
to them so as to help them increase productivity as well as enabling them to
acquire input facilities needed for optimum productivity.
Financial
institutions should also help create credits and make them available to
prospective livestock farmers. This will help reduce unemployment rate as well
as encouraging will help reduce unemployment rate as well as encouraging
willing investors to dabble into livestock farming.
4. Provision of education to Livestock Farmers
Efforts
should be put in place to educate and enlighten prospective entrepreneurs and
already established livestock farmers on new innovations and technology that
will help improve the productivity of their livestock. These enlightenment
programmes should be funded by the government or relevant non-governmental organizations
because lack of knowledge or appropriate know‐how can lead to a colossal loss of income
and capital. Adequate attention should be paid to the education of rural
livestock farmers.
5. Introduction of New Farming Methods to Livestock Farmers
Efforts
needs to be put in place by the government to persuade rural livestock farmers
and fulani herders to adopt modern innovations and technologies that have been
tested and proven to boost production in the livestock sector.
The
continuous reliance on traditional methods have led to the nations inability to
meet its animal protein needs therefore there is a need to encourage livestock
farmers to embrace biotechnology techniques to improve the breed of their
cattle through artificial insemination so as to obtain optimal productivity.
Read: Top Solutions to the Problems of Agriculture
6. Provision of High Livestock Feeds and Nutrition
To
improve livestock farming, the government and interest based organizations in
the country should invest more on animal feeds production. Poor quality feed
severely cripples the development of livestock in Nigeria.
For
example, natural grass and herbage in northern Nigeria, where the bulk of the
livestock are raised, produce less than the minimum of 6% protein. The low
protein isn’t enough to meet the nutritional needs; therefore, there is an
increased weight loss within the animals.
Animals
that feed from this pasturage also have low‐quality
and quantity of meat and milk. In order to improve livestock production in
Nigeria, adequate attention should be paid to nutrition. Low cost feeds and
supplement should be made available to farmers.
7. Livestock research
Livestock research can improve livestock farming in Nigeria. Research programmes carried out by tertiary institutions and government research institutes should be encouraged so as to enhance the discovery of useful technological methods and innovations that will improve livestock production.
Livestock farmers should
also be made to embrace biotechnological techniques available in research
institutes across the country to improve the breed of their cattle through
artificial insemination. Research institutes should be encouraged and empowered
by the government and relevant agencies to enable them find lasting solution to
animal diseases and also the production of vaccines to control or eradicate
them.
8. Settling the Nomads
One
of the most reliable solutions to improve livestock farming in Nigeria is to
settle the nomads. Since the Fulani nomads holds and control more than 90% of
the cattle population in the nation, efforts should be made towards settling by
the government. This will make them easily accessible to veterinarians and
livestock scientists. This exposure will help the nomads embrace the best
modern practices in animal agriculture. If this is successfully achieved, it
will no doubt enhance milk and meat production in Nigeria.
9. Provision of Adequate Animal Housing
In
trying to solve the problem of livestock farming, livestock farmers should
provide with technical and financial support for construction of animal house
and fencing materials.
10. Provision of Good Stock Routes and Conflict Between Herders and Farmers
Creation
of livestock corridors, development of local conventions on natural resource
management, conflict management and transhumance through community consultations.
11. Availability of Water Especially in the Dry Season Animal Disease
Education
on water harvesting techniques, creation of pastoral wells, development of
standing pools and also strengthening the capacity of community animal health
workers and farmers in diagnosis of common animal disease, their prevention and
treatment.
What are the Importance and Benefits of Livestock Farming?
· Livestock
farming is a vital activity in the development of humanity and continues to
occupy a prominent place among the primary activities of the world economy.
· It
generates high-quality food products such as meat, egg, milk, cheese, etc.
· Other
local economic sectors benefit directly or indirectly from its activity: food
processing industries, handicrafts, tourism and hospitality.
· It
is one of the few human productive economic activities that are truly
sustainable.
· It
generates employment opportunities and serves as a source of income
· It
can also serve as a hobby for some people.
· It
can help a country to generate foreign exchange earnings through the export of
livestock products. This will further strengthen the local currency value.
· Bigger
animals such as cattle, horse and donkeys can be used for some special farm
operations such as ploughing, harrowing and even beasts of burden
What does factory farming mean for the animals?
The
basic needs of the animals are ignored as they are kept in narrow and
unstructured environment which prevents species-specific behavior. No
opportunity for social behavior leads to stress, restlessness, aggressiveness
and frustration. Risks from poor health, infections and susceptibility to
diseases are increasing.
In order to prevent the animals from injuring or eating each other, painful manipulations are carried out without an aesthesia and the animals are subjected to control measures like beak trimming in chicks (hens, turkeys) and teeth or horns removal.
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