FG Moves Against Open Grazing, Targets End to Cattle Roaming in Cities

The Federal Government has begun moves to end open grazing across Nigeria, announcing plans to resettle herders in 470 gazetted grazing reserves nationwide.

Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha, said the initiative would help stop the roaming of cattle in major cities such as Abuja and Lagos while boosting Nigeria’s struggling dairy industry.

Speaking on Arise News, Maiha said the government was pushing pastoralists toward a sedentary system that would improve livestock management, disease control and milk production.

According to him:

“We are sensitising pastoralists to adopt a sedentary lifestyle.”

He explained that once herders settle within designated reserves, government interventions aimed at improving productivity would become easier to implement.

The minister also revealed that the government plans to deploy jaw-tagging technology to track cattle movement and quickly identify animals that stray beyond approved locations.

Maiha said:

“Once a cow steps outside its designated boundary, an alarm is triggered, indicating it has either strayed or been stolen.”

He stressed that open grazing was no longer economically viable, blaming long-distance cattle movement for poor productivity and Nigeria’s inability to meet local dairy demand.

Comparing Nigeria’s dairy output with other African countries, the minister disclosed that cows in Nigeria currently produce between 1.2 and 2 litres of milk daily, far below Kenya’s average of up to 30 litres per cow.

He blamed the gap on outdated livestock genetics, poor feeding practices and inadequate disease management systems.

Despite having an estimated 270 million ruminants, including cattle, goats, sheep and camels, Maiha said Nigeria had failed to modernise its livestock sector through improved breeding programmes.

He noted:

“While every other thing in our national space has changed, we have not been able to transform our livestock by introducing new genetics or selecting based on performance traits.”

The Federal Government said it is now focusing on genetics improvement, feeding systems and animal health under the National Dairy Policy Framework to increase local milk production and reduce reliance on imports.

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