By Doris Esa/Abuja

Minister of Agriculture, Muhammad Nanono said Nigeria’s livestock sector is potentially worth over N33 trillion.

Nanono made the claim, while exchanging views with journalists on Saturday in Abuja.

He did not give details about how he arrived at the projection, but pleaded that the country should harnessed the sector.

Nanono said that the ministry was making impact in the livestock sector adding that the sector was very crucial as it formed 17 per cent of the country’s agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

He said the Federal Government, through the ministry of Agriculture recently inaugurated the National Livestock Breed Improvement Programme (NALBIP) in Kano.

Nanono said the NALBIP was one of the comprehensive and sustainable mechanisms put in place by the ministry to address the development and transformation of the livestock value chain in the agricultural sector.

The minister noted that cattle breeding held the most important part of livestock development of any country because of its size, value and mobility.

“Just this week in Kano, I inaugurated the pilot scheme of the National Livestock Breed Improvement Initiative aimed at increasing the dairy potentials of our indigenous dairy cows and meat yield of our national herd.

“The livestock sector has a huge economic potential netting N33 trillion which should be explored and harnessed,” Nanono said.

He noted that the extension service delivery was also very crucial to agriculture saying it boosted farmers’ performance and productivity in the country.

“Let us understand that the agriculture sector is the most important sector in this country. Let us understand that every part of this country has something to offer in agriculture,” Nanono said.

He said one of the major components of his agenda had been to deepen extension services to develop the agricultural sector and make farming an informed profession.

“Another component is to launch a compact and viable livestock sub-sector capable of sustaining the supply of beef and dairy demands of the nation for consumption, processing industry and export.

“It is our dream to have farmers with attractive and descent incomes that will make them an envy to other workers in other sectors of the economy as well as attract the younger generation to embrace the profession,” Nanono said.

The minister said the ministry had also launched the National Fertilizer Quality Control Act 2019 , which had been signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari on March 12, 2020.

Nanono said the focus of the law was to regulate the production of high quality standard fertilizer for the country’s farmers.