United Arab Emirates, Saudi-Arabia, Qatar to import grass from Nigeria

“As I am talking today, there is a lot of market for fodder in this country. People are selling fodder from Abuja to Taraba, Ogun and Lagos states.

“I sold grass some years back. Ordinary grass but there is benefit from that. Growing grass is another lucrative business and there are huge varieties of grasses. These are huge opportunities that we can begin to explore, but it is a question of awareness,” he said.

Alhaji Maiha revealed that Nigeria spends a princely sum of $1.5 billion on dairy products importation annually.

He said: “This is because we don’t have sufficient milk. Our cows produce about 23 litres of milk each per day while their counterparts elsewhere do between 25 and 40 litres per day.

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“Nigeria has no reason to be poor because we have the resources. 58 millions herds of cattle, 124 million goats, 70 million sheep, 13.3 million pigs, 410,000 donkeys and 1000 carmel’s and almost half a million of poultry businesses have always been outside the formal sector of the industry.

“But, it now took somebody after Nigeria’s 64 years of independence to realize the damage we have been doing to ourselves by not mainstreaming livestock production.

“The potential are there. It is only in livestock that you harvest everyday. It has the lowest risk of agriculture ecosystem. Nigeria’s population is an asset for livestock development. Therefore, if you want to go into business think food, think livestock as food has no alternative.

“Today governments at all levels are there to create an enabling environment. We will build your capacity, link you up with Development Bank and off-takers outside Nigeria.

“Our job as government is to be able to leapfrog the sector and raise the productivity of animals, manage animal diseases and to provide an environment for sufficient fish and grass all year round.”