TECHNICAL ARTICLES - AGRICULTURE
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Youths are the hope of any society.They are human assets on which the society depends for manpower suatainability.The future of a society depends to a large extent on quality of its youth .Therefore,we need to develop the youth of these nations that they may be physically,intellectually and economically empowered to contribute meaningfully to national productivity and food production for the entire Africa population.These youths are demographically classified within the age bracket of 15-35 years.
Africa population is presently about 700 million people with youth contributing about 33%.Nigeria which constitute about 25% of Africa human population may currently have an actual human population of165million people. The United Nations organization projects that Africa population will hit 1,5 to 2 billion inyear 2050. 2./3 of this population are living in rural communities of Africa and needed to be harnessed, organized, empowered to cooperatively engage in Livestock farming. This projection shows the magnitude of Africans that must be fed in upcoming years and our youths must be prepared to meet these challenges
THE YOUTHS
Unfortunately these youths are going through a crises of disorientation,loss of vision characterized by massive unemployment ,intertribal wars as it was in Ruwanda, Burundi, Republic of Congo,and the ravaging Niger delta crises in Nigeria. Idleness, kidnapping ,smuggling ,armed robbery ,truancy cultism get rich quick are the ills of African youths that must be managed. In order to arrest this trend, efforts must be made to encourage youths in productive livestock production. This enterprise will enhance their welfare, improve their earning capacity and supply good quality animal protein to the populace.
HOPE FOR AFRICA
There is hope for Africa, especially that many African countries are now paying priority to accelerated food production and poverty alleviation as in Nigeria. The Kwara state government in Nigeria, through its shonga and the Malete farm projects , encourages prompt allocation of land for mechanized farming Poultry and Dairy farming is a worthy examples for many countries in the sub region. In my last vist in august to a family of Dairy farmer in Shonga, I was excited at the success of the Dairy project with 400 heads of Jersey cows and a functional factory to pasteurize and package fresh milk in affordable prices for Nigeria. It is absolutely inappropriate, under the present economic scenario of high food import bills, declining purchasing power of consumers and high foreign debt profile to embark on food importation to feed millions of Africa. Many youths in Africa can be encouraged and mobilized to produce enough food and slate the excess for exportation to many countries in the Arab world.
CASE FOR ACCELERATED LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION
Though, livestock in Africa are as old as the evolution of man itself, it has made some progress in some regions of Africa such as South Africa, Bostwana,Lesotho. The situation of livestock production in UGANDA ,KENYA and other East Africa countries are similarly showing encouraging trend and especially in wild life management. However Livestock growth in the West Africa sub region had not met up with National and economic expectation, except for poultry production that had shown some degree of growth and economic development. Other livestock farming as piggery and cattle production need vigorous promotion using the youth segment as the vehicle of accelerated animal protein production .
NIGERIA CASE STUDY
Using Nigeria as a case study, the slackness in protein consumption showed that Nigeria population and in deed many west African countries consume far less protein per head than the FAO recommendations. Though FAO recommendation of protein intake of 63gm per caput per day translates to 23kg of meat per head per annum,this would have brought her national protein consumption to 2 million tons. Nigeria protein consumption per caput per annum is less than 7.5kg but Nigeria is a big brother in the west Africa sub region and especially in the economic and common market vision. The neighbors look up to her for military, political economic and food supply leadership. This situation will pose serious demand on domestic food supply in the up coming years. A large proportion of the country over 2.5 billion table eggs are illegally exported to neighboring ECOWAS. This scenario demands for urgent need to accelerate livestock production farming by the youths of this region
THE PROBLEM OF LIVESTOCK PRODUCTION IN WEST AFRICA SUB REGION
Small scale livestock project are declining in number in many urban communities of the West Africa region but youths forming cooperative societies should develop the modern livestock in peri urban regions of Africa. A recent case study on the Nigeria poultry farmers prior to 1984 showed the structure of the business as:
66% holding stock under 1000birds
26% holding stock between 1001-5000birds
7.5% holding above 5000 birds
This structure, had been reversed such that more large and medium scale farmers are now seen in urban locations of Nigeria. Small scale production should be encouraged in the peri urban communities of West Africa to improve poverty alleviation and enhance empowerment of the youths
PROPOSED LIVESTOCK PROJECT FOR AFRICAN YOUTHS
To improve more livestock animal food production to millions and improve empowerment and capacity development for African youths, African government has to concentrate more effort in increasing output of small scale farmers. I strongly believe that youth in Africa must form cooperative associations that will assume the role of establishing and sustaining small scale livestock farming in the region. To this end, I propose the following livestock options that are characterised into a mix portfolio of a High capital gain livestock enterprise, mixed with high cash flow livestock enterprise. Three of such options are defined in his write up as:
-----Cattle beef fattening with poultry
-----Pig fattening with poultry
----Fishery with poultry
This author have persistently promote these options in Nigeria and have personally undertake all the options with practical books published on them. The beauty of these concept is that it can be practiced on small land holdings and this concept has been designed and practiced by this author for youth capacity development in Nigeria. I have tagged this livestock options as Diversified family integrated economic empowerment livestock project. It is very suitable for youths and retires as it could be practiced on a 2-3 plots of land or even smaller size in peri urban areas with abundance of forage to supplement feeding for cattle
ECONOMIC HOLDING FOR YOUTHS
The following options have been experimented and found economically viable for the youths of the region
Options Description Yield Output eggs/Live wt
Cattle/poultry 10 fattened cattle 2crops/annum 4000kg beef
200 Layers 1703kg eggs
Pig/poultry 100 fatners(25/quarter) 5000kg pork meat
200 layer 1703kg table eggs
Fishery/poultry 2x10ftx12ft to fatting 750kg fish
1000 juvenile's 1703kg table eggs
200 layers
The figure above present a mix of livestock portfolio where each options is combined with poultry as high cash flow while the mix livestock represent a capital gain option of the mix portfolio. The choice of these options are to allow the participant to meet their cash needs as well as been able to keep high capital gain stock like cattle ,pigs, and fish as a form of collateral and current asset to fall back upon as for easy loan repayment. Interested organizations on the economic viability of these options should contact the author for further discussion
STRATEGIES
T his will be discussed comprehensively with interested NGO or Countries but will focus on the following
-- - Participant selection
--- Capacity development
----- Project pairing and module selection
----- Land availability and suitability
---- Project costing
---- cost structure
CONCLUSION
In conclusion massive animal food production can be engaged in by African youths and depending on the number of such participants Africa can utilize her youth in rural and peri- urban centers to turn around livestock production in this region. This module should attract interest of funding organization such as African Development Bank ADB, USDA ,CARES and many NGO targeting Africa for youth empowerment and capacity development in livestock production.
Dr Adejoro is a poultry and Livestock management consultant and presently the Head of marketing and Research for Zartech Limited Nigeria
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