The Honourable Minister of Livestock Development, Alhaji Idi Mukhtar Maiha, has reaffirmed the Federal Government’s resolve to completely restructure Nigeria’s livestock sector.
Speaking on Friday, 19 June 2026, during the opening leg of a three-day working tour of Katsina State, the Minister declared that the government is moving past policy discussions to link commercial producers directly with advanced technology, global markets, and state-backed processing hubs.
The ministerial oversight tour involved extensive field inspections of large-scale, privately operated livestock assets and state-backed research installations across multiple local government areas.
Facilities reviewed by the federal delegation included an automated 150-hectare ranch in Charanchi, the Katsina State Goat Multiplication and Genetic Improvement Centre in Rimi, the Obasanjo Sheep and Goat Farm, and the privately held Jobe Farm in Barhim.
Minister Maiha stated that the success of the Charanchi facility, which features 50 hectares of dedicated pasture, an earth dam for year-round irrigation, and high-yielding Gudali-Holstein cross dairy cattle, conclusively shatters public misconceptions that modern ranching is too expensive or impractical for the Nigerian landscape.
The federal strategy is leaning heavily on empirical science rather than ornamental aesthetics.
The Minister explicitly emphasised that the administration is not interested in funding underperforming “designer farms,” but is instead prioritising commercially viable enterprises that can reliably supply premium animals to Nigeria’s emerging network of automated abattoirs.
To support this target, federal veterinary teams conducted extensive sample collections for disease surveillance at the Obasanjo facility while praising the Rimi Goat Multiplication Centre, which currently houses 3,000 goats, for its structural approach to youth and female economic empowerment.
Detailing the host state’s defensive and offensive agricultural measures, the Katsina State Commissioner for Livestock Development, Professor Ahmad Mohammad Bakori, revealed that the state has recently rehabilitated and fully equipped seven regional veterinary clinics.
He noted that swift joint interventions between the state and federal governments successfully wiped out a localised outbreak of Peste des Petits Ruminants (PPR) through targeted quarantines and rapid vaccination drives.
Commissioner Bakori concluded by announcing that the Rimi centre will soon transition into a mega-breeding hub by deploying advanced artificial insemination protocols to eliminate regional dependence on unverified, external breeding stocks.
Source: Federal Ministry of Livestock Development
