…Mulls Artificial Insemination For Increased Livestock And Diary Production

The Miyetti ALLAH Kyautal Hore Fulani Socio Cultural Association Gombe State Chapter has described the advent of Gombe State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L—PRES) as a final solution to pastoral conflicts in the state.

This was according to a press statement signed and made available to Jewel Times by the Project’s Communication Officer Umar Baba Kumo.

Baba Kumo said “The Gombe State Chapter Chairman of the association Ardo Chindo Abubakar made the statement when members of the association paid a courtesy visit on the Project Coordinator Professor Usman Bello Abubakar”.

The chairman said they were at the project’s office to express their solidarity with Gombe state government for providing a platform that will bring stakeholders in the livestock sector together towards enhancing their productivity and bringing an end to the yearly farmers/herders’ conflict that has brought untold hardships to the sector and larger society.

Ardo Chindo recalled the glorious past and decried the deplorable conditions they live today due to modernisation which has placed them in tight corner without adequate provision for livelihood.

He said they have been deprived of western education and other basic needs that were hitherto accessible to them including nomadic schools which have now closed, while cattle routes and grazing reserves have been encroached or overtaken by farmers including road shoulders have been turned into farms, making movements and migration for them and their cattle difficult without stepping into farmlands.

He said despite their contributions in the supply of protein and other diary related products, their grievances remained unattended to by successive governments while everyone has turned against them labelling them as purveyors of violence.

He therefore, pleaded with the L-PRES Project to assist in restoring cattle routes, re-establishment of nomadic schools and health facilities for them and their livestock.

In his response, the Project Coordinator who expressed appreciation for the visit identified access to water and feed as most critical in livestock farming, explaining that the state government under the leadership of Governor Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya is prepared to restore the lost glory of livestock farming in the state.

He said so far, the state Government under the L-PRES project has awarded contracts for the construction of three earth dams, renovation of three abattoirs in the first phase, construction of veterinary laboratory at Gombe Cattle Market, while a committee on grazing, forest, game reserves and that cattle routes reclamation in the state has already submitted its report to the government.

He further explained that arrangements are underway to introduce modern technologies into livestock farming including fodder banks, pasture development, artificial insemination to maximise cattle fertility and increase milk production to attract more profits for livestock farmers including Miyetti ALLAH Association.

He assured the association that their challenges will be looked into and addressed soon and that ‘’everyone will be carried along from top to bottom including sellers of animal dung’’, he added.