The ministry of livestock development says it plans to empower 1,000 youths on different values of the sector in every state of the country.

The minister of livestock development, Idi Maiha, said this at the closing of a four-day Hack4Livestock Hackathon competition in Abuja.

The programme was organised by the National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics, in conjunction with the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy and the Ministry of Livestock Development.

Mr Maiha, represented by Eustace Iyayi, his special assistant, said that the initiative was aimed at leveraging digital platforms to drive growth and development in the sector, with a focus on involving women and promoting diversity.

He said that digital skills would play a critical role in driving growth and development in the livestock sector.

He said that the ministry had developed the Nigerian Livestock Growth Acceleration Strategy package aimed at driving growth and development in the sector.

“Currently we plan to capacitate 1,000 youths per state in different values in the livestock sector.

“We are aware that this digital project is going to be very helpful in doing that. We live in a world where we can just dive and we get to anywhere we want to get to.

“We are looking at women also getting involved in livestock activities and we also believe that projects like this are going to be very helpful,” Mr Maiha said.

Idris Bugaje, executive secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (MBTE), said that each project reflected the transformative potential of technology to address real-world challenges in the livestock sector and beyond.

Mr Bugaje, represented by Aliyu Imafidor, general manager of the MBTE Centre of Excellence for TVET, said that Artificial Intelligence, as a driver of digital transformation, was rapidly reshaping sectors such as education, agriculture, healthcare and more.

He commended participants for exhibiting innovation, dedication and a problem-solving mindset during the programme.

“Your success is a testament to your resilience, ingenuity and commitment to excellence.

“May your journey serve as an inspiration to others in the pursuit of innovation for national development,” Mr Bugaje said.

Gbenga Sesan, a representative of the Agro Alliance, the winners of the Hack4lifestock 2025 edition, spoke on the group’s solution that aims to mitigate farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria.

He said that apart from having the potential to mitigate farmer-herder conflicts in Nigeria, it would reduce economic losses, loss of lives, and displacement of people.

Mr Sesan said that Agro Alliance was a real-time solution, an IoT-based system used to detect cattle intrusions, trigger deterrents, and alert farmers via SMS, notifications, and calls, enhancing farm security and reducing conflicts.

He said that the system, powered by artificial intelligence (AI), detects cattle intrusions in farms and sends instant notifications to farmers through the Internet of Things (IoT).

“This is remote monitoring, and it also sends information like images and live feeds of the events happening on the farm.

“The system also initiates an irritating alarm to scare away the cattle before they gain entrance to the farm,” he said.

He said that the team planned to penetrate the market and collaborate with security agencies to mitigate conflicts between farmers and herders.

“We are open to collaboration and partnerships to further develop their solution,” he said.

The top three Hack4Livestock Hackathon winners received ₦10 million.

Livestocx emerged in third position with a sum of N2 million, JVincent emerged second position with a sum of N3 million and Agro Alliance emerged first position with a sum of N5 million accordingly.

Stakeholders from the ministry of communications, innovation and digital economy; National Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (NCAIR); and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) were in attendance.

(NAN)