Ekiti State, Southwest Nigeria, is building local capacity for livestock genetic improvement by training 30 animal husbandry and veterinary professionals to deliver artificial insemination services to cattle and goats across the state.
The programme, being implemented through the Ekiti State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES), is designed to address one of the constraints identified among beneficiary livestock farmers: poor genetic quality and limited access to improved breeding services. The state says these constraints have contributed to low milk yields, slow growth rates and reduced market value of animals.
The initial artificial insemination programme targets 850 cows and 150 goats, with the 30 professionals being trained and inducted as artificial insemination technicians. Rather than relying on external specialists, the programme is intended to establish a pool of trained personnel within Ekiti who can continue providing breeding services and transfer the skills to other technicians.
Artificial insemination allows farmers to introduce desirable genetic traits without having to maintain breeding males on every farm. Under the programme, local breeds can be crossed with animals carrying selected traits and pedigrees, with the objective of producing offspring with improved characteristics such as faster growth, better feed conversion, stronger carcass performance and higher milk production. The state also notes that the technology can reduce the transmission of sexually transmitted reproductive diseases and allows semen from superior breeding animals to be stored for extended periods.
The intervention is also designed to create a longer-term livestock improvement system. Genex Urus Company, the programme's consultant, is expected to support the 30 trained and qualified technicians for three years. The company said the artificial insemination programme could eventually reach more than 1,000 animals, including goats, across different local government areas of the state.
The genetic programme forms part of a broader effort under L-PRES to make livestock production more productive and commercial. The six-year project focuses on improving productivity, commercialisation and resilience in targeted livestock systems, with cattle, sheep and goats, poultry and pigs among its priority value chains.
Ekiti is simultaneously investing in infrastructure around the livestock sector. Under L-PRES, the state is developing modern cattle markets, a broiler processing plant, veterinary infrastructure and other facilities intended to strengthen livestock production, processing and market access. Farmer field schools are also being established to provide practical training in livestock management, animal health, breeding and pasture development.
For farmers, the importance of genetic improvement lies in producing more from the animals already being raised. Better genetics, however, will need to work alongside adequate feed, animal health services, water, housing, extension support and reliable markets if the productivity gains are to translate into higher and more consistent incomes.
NBF Insight
Livestock productivity is not determined by animal numbers alone. Genetics determines part of what an animal can produce, while management determines how much of that potential is realised.
Ekiti's artificial insemination programme is therefore significant because it moves livestock improvement from an individual-farm activity towards a coordinated breeding system. Training technicians locally creates the human capacity needed to deliver the technology beyond a single intervention.
The bigger test will be whether improved genetics translate into measurable increases in milk yield, growth, carcass weight and farmer income. If the breeding programme is supported by feed, veterinary care, extension and market infrastructure, Ekiti could use genetic improvement to raise the productivity of its livestock sector without depending solely on expanding herd numbers.
