Daniel Adaji
Nigeria and Botswana have agreed to strengthen cooperation aimed at modernising livestock production, as both countries position the sector as a driver of economic growth.
The commitment was reaffirmed on Friday when the Minister of Livestock Development, Idi Maiha, received Botswana’s High Commissioner to Nigeria, Philda Nani Kereng, during a courtesy visit to the ministry in Abuja.
Maiha said Nigeria is pushing ahead with wide-ranging reforms anchored on evidence-based policies and structured interventions designed to raise productivity, expand value addition and improve the livelihoods of farmers and other actors across the livestock value chain. He stressed that the country must abandon outdated practices to fully unlock the sector’s potential.
“The Botswana experience is a major inspiration. Your nation has achieved in 50 years what the world continues to study, and we are interested in domesticating many of those lessons,” he said.
He noted that Nigeria is well positioned to scale up livestock production, compete globally and draw practical lessons from Botswana’s success in exporting beef to Europe, managing transboundary animal diseases and deploying modern livestock traceability systems.
The minister added that the government’s reform agenda includes the rehabilitation and modernisation of 417 grazing reserves into organised ranching ecosystems, a move he said mirrors the resilient, technology-driven livestock systems developed in Botswana over several decades.
In her response, the High Commissioner highlighted Botswana’s more than five decades of experience in beef production and exports, describing it as evidence of what sustained planning and policy consistency can deliver.
She said the country’s livestock achievements are built on strong policy frameworks, supportive governance structures and extensive programmes that help farmers raise high-quality cattle for both household sustenance and national development.
According to her, Botswana’s beef industry—second only to diamonds as a source of national revenue—relies on strict disease-control measures, communal land management systems, targeted veterinary services and heavily subsidised farmer-support schemes.
Kereng also outlined areas for possible collaboration with Nigeria, including improving beef quality through better genetics, strengthening modern abattoir operations, refining disease-control and veterinary protocols, boosting vaccine production, expanding livestock traceability systems and upgrading grazing-management practices.
