Olu Samuel

The Kogi State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (Kogi L-PRES), has distributed 21 Motorcycles to the Livestock Extension Agents in the 21 Local Government Areas as mobility support to boost Livestock Extension and Advisory Service delivery at the livestock value chain clusters in Kogi State.

Also 1,000 Livestock Extension Manual were distributed to the Livestock Farmers across the 64 Livestock Value Chain Clusters in the State.

In addition, Veterinary Medical Equipment which comprised Veterinary Laboratory Equipment, Meat Inspection Kits, Veterinary Ambulatory Kits and Veterinary Surgical Kits were handed over to the Department of Veterinary Services, Ministry of Livestock Development, Lokoja to improve animal disease diagnosis, veterinary services, food safety and security in Kogi State

The state’s Commissioner for Livestock Development, Dr Olufemi Bolarin, who flagged off the distribution exercise in Lokoja on Saturday, said “the initiative was part of activities heralding a One-Day Stakeholders’ Engagement on Effective Livestock Extension and Advisory Services Delivery in the state”.

The Commissioner charged the Livestock Extension Agents to make judicious use of the facilities placed at their disposal for the intended purposes towards livestock value chain development in the state.

Dr Bolarin cautioned the beneficiaries not to use the facilities for commercial or private ventures but purely meant to carry out their extension and advisory services and nothing else.

He admonished L-PRES State Project Coordinator, Otaru Abdulkabir to continue to prioritise staff welfare and renumeration so as to achieve the needed productivity in the livestock sub-sector.

“The economic power of any nation depended on its level of agricultural transformation as a bedrock of socioeconomic development and employment creation.” The commissioner noted.

Earlier, the State Project Coordinator of L-PRES, Mr Otaru Abdulkabir presented the structure of the Livestock Extension/Advisory Service delivery in Kogi State.

He expressed delight on the adoption of Farmer to Farmer Extension/Advisory Services having the Lead Livestock Farmers/Value Chain Cluster Coordinators adequately and efficiently playing the role at the various value chain clusters along the priority value chains in Kogi State.

He further explained that the livestock extension services have gone digital to showcase the technical know-how of the extension workers by using Kobo Tool to capture real time data during the delivery of Extension and Advisory Services in the state.

Otaru disclosed that the collaboration between Kogi L-PRES and Kogi Agricultural Development Project had changed the narratives with positive and impactful results assuring that the feat would be sustained in the years ahead.

The Kogi State’s Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Timothy Ojomah; the Managing Director of Kogi Agricultural Development Project (ADP), Dr Bello Ogirima;, the State Coordinator, Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, Mrs Abah Helen, and the representative of the Livestock Farmers Mr Ibrahim Daniel Arome in their separate remarks commended the initiative saying it would further strengthen livestock productivity in the state.

They admonished the government at all levels to be wary of ghost farmers syndrome and be ready to weed them out to allow genuine farmers benefit from government patronage and assistance to them to carry out their agricultural activities in Kogi State.

Daniel Arome, a beneficiary, praised the state government and L-PRES for the initiative, pledging effective utilization of the resources for intended purposes.