The Adamawa government has commended the federal government for implementing the Pilot Ranching Programme in the state.

The state Commissioner for Livestock and Aquaculture Development, Umar Lamurde, gave the commendation in an interview with journalists in Yola on Monday.

Mr Lamurde said the state government had allocated about 9,000 hectares of land to the federal government for the ranching project.

He said the development complemented the state government’s efforts to implement policies aimed at developing the livestock sector.

“Long before the federal government’s Ranching Pilot Project, the state government had embarked on the rehabilitation and demarcation of 69 grazing reserves across the state for ranching.

“The grazing reserves comprise 32 gazetted and 37 ungazetted reserves, alongside stock routes and dams,” he said.

Mr Lamurde said the federal government’s flagship Model Pilot Ranch at the Gongoshi Grazing Reserve in the Mayo-Belwa Local Government Area of the state was among the reserves allocated for the pilot project.

He said the ranch was established under the National Livestock Transformation Plan to demonstrate the transition from open grazing to modern ranching.

The commissioner added that the state government had established a State Livestock Transformation Office (SLTO) to work closely with the federal government.

Mr Lamurde said the state had also developed a programme titled “Improving Livestock Productivity and Mitigation of Herder-Farmer Conflict through Effective Utilisation of Grazing Reserves”.

He said the programme was submitted to the federal government in May 2024 under a Natural Resource Fund grant application.

The commissioner said that protecting grazing reserves has drastically reduced tensions between farmers and herders.

Mr Lamurde further disclosed that the federal government, in collaboration with the state government, had commissioned six major livestock projects in Adamawa.

He listed the projects to include a 40-million-dose solar-powered animal vaccine cold-chain hub, an integrated waste management plant, a cattle resting point and the rehabilitation of the Gongoshi Grazing Reserve.

Mr Lamurde said the state government had also hosted the maiden National Council on Livestock Development (NCLD) meeting in Yola as part of its efforts to attract investment and strengthen the livestock sector.

(NAN)