An IITA delegation consisting of the Deputy Director General, Partnerships for Delivery, Kenton Dashiell; Director of the Development and Delivery Office, Alfred Dixon; and Coordinator of the TAAT Program Management Unit, Chrys Akem, held a collaborative meeting at the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Ibadan, Nigeria. The delegation embarked on a facility tour after the late October meeting.
In his address, ILRI Country Representative in Nigeria, Tunde Amole, thanked IITA management for continually supporting them as a sister organization to IITA. “Thank you for the pull and push, always including us in your proposals and plans,” he said.
Amole noted that livestock is becoming attractive for youth in agriculture because of its quick turnaround and the current trend of finding a balance between crop and livestock. ILRI utilizes crop residue from plants harvested by farmers to make compact feed for livestock. Citing the massive potential of crop residue to serve as foliage feed for livestock, Amole said, “From a hectare of sorghum, which provides 3–4 tons of grain, we can get 12 tons of fodder that farmers can use to produce feed meal for ruminants and birds.”
The ILRI team in Ibadan pelletizes such crop residue and grasses during the rainy season when they are abundant. This technology enables all-year-round feed availability for livestock. Amole and his team are also working on raising improved livestock breeds to meet the meat and dairy needs of the teeming population of Nigerians, especially following the anticipated increased population rise from the Covid-19 pandemic. They cross exotic breeds with local ones who are resilient and adaptive to our local climatic conditions to conserve our local varieties and, at the same time, improve the pool of genetic breeds available for food.
Plant wastes and grasses available as raw materials for the pelletized feed are locally sourced from markets and farms around Ibadan. Data collected in the past year from an emerging fodder market in Akinyele, Ibadan, show that 500 to 600 bundles of fodder grass are brought in for sale every day. With each bundle costing about ₦500 (Nigerian Naira), a fodder market projection of ₦250,000 is recorded, indicating an excellent business to pursue.
Most pelletized livestock feed produced by ILRI contains high-quality cassava peel, one of the most abundant plant waste resources in Nigeria—the highest cassava producer globally. The feed can be further fortified with other nutrient elements to meet specific poultry and ruminant farm needs.
The pelletized feed, when scaled up, will provide a viable alternative to open grazing and migratory livestock herding from the north to the south of Nigeria. It would also promote a symbiotic relationship between both regions: the north would supply livestock to the high-consuming south, while the south would supply packaged feed to the north where demand for it is high. Furthermore, ILRI Ibadan carries out training and capacity development for youth interested in livestock rearing and breeding.
The delegates toured ILRI’s feed production mill, the goat and cow breeding ranch, the poultry farm, and ILRI’s grass cultivation field.
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