Highlights of the Nigerian Livestock Resources Report

The Federal Government of Nigeria has long recognised the need for a wide ranging and objective assessment of livestock populations and systems covering the whole country. The problem has been how this might best be achieved. In the past, official livestock population figures have been derived indirectly from administrative records, such as vaccination returns and jangali tax payments, slaughter figures, trade movements, and import/export figures. Without exception, these sources of information are all open to question. They relate only to a limited number of livestock species, and give no indication of their levels of productivity. It was therefore decided that an independent National Livestock Resources Survey was required, employing innovative techniques of low level aerial survey, systematic sampling and complementary ground studies. The survey was put out to international competitive tender and Resource Inventory and Management Limited (RIM) was commissioned to undertake the study in collaboration with the Federal Department of Livestock and Pest Control Services (FDLPCS), as a component of the Second Livestock Development Project (SLDP). To begin with, a pilot study of livestock resources in Anambra and Niger States was conducted in 1989, to demonstrate the application of aerial and ground survey methods, and recommend how these could be extended to provide national coverage. After thorough review of the proposals and endorsement by participants of a specially convened workshop, the recommendations were accepted by the Federal Government, and a Technical Advisory Committee was established to monitor progress of the National Livestock Resources Survey, which took place during 1990 and 1992.