About 25,801 livestock farmers have benefited from the African Development Bank assisted Community-Base Agriculture and Rural Development Project (AfDB-CBRADP) in five states in Nigeria, Project Coordinator, Ibrahim Arabi has disclosed.

Arabi, who stressed the need to improve local breeds of livestock in view of high demand for animal protein in the country noted that the project would improve livestock productivity in the benefiting states of Adamawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Kaduna and Kwara.

“Low production of meat and milk has been identified as the major constrain in taping the potential of the livestock sub-sector. To tackle these problems, new technologies were introduced to enhance the productivity of local breeds. These technologies were source from the National Animal Production Research Institute (NAPRI), Shika, Zaria, and NVIR, Vom,” Arabi said.

According to him, 9,907 local breeds of cattle, poultry and pigs have been upgraded for higher productivity in the participating states. Under the cattle fattening programme, 426 bulls and 383 rams were fattened for high beef production. The project has also upgraded 245 pigs and vaccinated 1600 cows against infectious diseases,” he said.

Arabi said N70 million had been spent to improve local breed of livestock, adding that the project recorded a turnover of N134 million with a net profit N64 million. The project also recorded successes in upgrade of local chickens in 135 rural communities in the participating states. The communities claimed that the improved chicken are fast growing and heavier, attracting more market prices and leading to higher income,” he said.