The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA), has developed a technology to provide forage for cattle and encourage ranching in order to end the incessant clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the country.
Prof. Alex Akpa, Director-General of NABDA disclosed this in an interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, at the ongoing Science and Technology Innovation Expo in Abuja.
Akpa said in order to put a stop to the menace of herdsmen and farmers’ constant clashes over forage, scientists at the agency developed a technology called hydroponics which provide forage for cattle.
“Hydroponics is an important technology because with this, we are trying to encourage ranching,’’ he said.
According to the D-G, the technology was designed as a trolley with about six trays which could feed the cattle for a whole week.
He said a ranch of about 500 cattles required 500 trolleys, one for each cattle to feed for the whole day.
Akpa said with the simple method of replacing each tray with another as the cattle exhausts each plate each day; it would facilitate the growth and maturity of the cattle.
He said in this situation, the cattle were usually fed on sorghum, keeping it nourished and healthy and after six to seven days, the cattle become fully grown by eating everything on the tray.
Also speaking, Dr Rose Gidado, Deputy Director at the NABDA corroborated the D-G’s statements and said hydroponics was like urban agriculture.
She noted that the technology could provide forage for cattle that would help to stop farmers and herdsmen clashes.
Gidado, who is also a scientist and Country Coordinator, Open Forum on Agricultural Biotechnology (OFAB) in Africa, Nigeria Chapter, said the clashes arose as a result of forage.
“The cattle need food to eat and the farmers need it too, hence the necessity for the hydroponics technology,’’ she said.
She added that when these cattle were moved about from place to place, in search of food, they lose their weight, quality of meat and milk.
She also said this was the reason the country’s animal production in this area was far below international standard.
Gidado said the situation could be remedied with the mass production and commercialisation of the hydroponics technology. (NAN)
