Livestock Expert Calls For Modern Technology To Boost Milk, Meat Production

[Shola Sholaz]

Prof. Isaac Butswat, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science, has charged livestock farmers to apply the artificial insemination technology to boost milk and meat production.
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Speaking  in Jos during the week , Butswat stressed that Nigerian cattle breed needed improvement, to achieve high productivity.
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"What the animal produces in the form of milk and meat is a function of many factors such as the type of breed, climate, nutrition, health and other management practices. "If such factors are not properly improved, especially the breed of cattle, the consequence is that output in terms of milk and meat will remain low.
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"Our aspirations are to improve the average local cattle weight to 350 kg from the current 250 kg, attain an annual beef production of 650,000 tonnes, generate dairy milk production to 1.9 million tonnes, and double poultry production by 2016.
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"We cannot achieve this goal, if farmers continued using our local cattle breed. There is, therefore, the need to encourage livestock farmers to embrace biotechnology techniques to improve the breed of their cattle for optimal productivity."
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Butswat said that several improvement procedures such as breed characterisation, biotechnology, and environmental enhancement, among others, had been developed and used to improve animal breeds.
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He therefore, advised livestock farmers at all levels to liaise with research institutes uch as the National Animal Production Research Institute, Shika, and the National Veterinary Research Institute, Vom, for technical services.
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"Farmers could access services such as the improvement of productive efficiency of livestock through artificial insemination and control of productive problems in such research institutes.
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"They could also access all developed genetic and reproductive improvement of livestock species, especially cattle in similar research outfits."
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Butswat noted that the Fulanis remained the major producers of Nigeria's milk and meat as they owned more than 80 per cent of cattle in the country.
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He stressed that improving their productivity would go a long way to ensure adequate supply of the needed milk and meat.