Agriculture
Jega: Animal Agriculture Crucial to Africa’s Food Security, Economic Transformation
The Special Adviser to the President on Livestock Development and Co-Chair of the Presidential Livestock Reforms Implementation Committee, Prof. Attahiru M.
Jega stated this in a goodwill message delivered on his behalf by Prof. D. J. U. Kalla at the 9th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture, themed: “Repositioning Animal Agriculture for Africa’s Food Security and Global Competitiveness.”
According to him, livestock remains deeply connected to Africa’s culture, heritage and economy, with cattle, sheep, goats, camels and poultry serving as sources of wealth, livelihoods, resilience and social capital for millions of African families.
He noted that the sector also generates employment and income across breeding, feed production, animal health, processing, trade and value addition, stressing that livestock is not a peripheral component of African agriculture but a major driver of inclusive economic transformation.
Jega said transforming the livestock sector is central to the Presidential Livestock Reforms Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, aimed at unlocking the enormous economic potential of livestock and building a productive, competitive, climate-resilient and commercially viable industry.
He explained that the reform agenda seeks to create jobs, strengthen food and nutrition security and promote rural prosperity by moving the sector from subsistence to productivity, fragmentation to value-chain integration, and potential to investment and competitiveness.
He identified sustained investment in genetics, animal health, feed and forage, water, research and innovation, infrastructure, value addition and markets as necessary to achieve the desired transformation.
Jega further noted that Africa possesses significant livestock resources, adding that the priority should be to convert the continent’s biological wealth into nutritious food, decent jobs, resilient livelihoods and globally competitive enterprises.
He urged participants at the conference to move beyond dialogue and focus on practical actions, partnerships and measurable commitments capable of translating knowledge and policies into tangible impact.
He called for animal agriculture to be repositioned as a fulcrum of Africa’s food security, economic transformation and global competitiveness.
“Africa must feed Africa—and animal agriculture must be at the fulcrum of that transformation,” he said.
Jega, through Prof. Kalla, wished the 9th All Africa Conference on Animal Agriculture every success.