The Federal Ministry of Livestock Development has started moving the 30,000 cattle from Abuja city centre to the Kawu Grazing Reserve in the Bwari Area Council.
The reserve covers 9,000 hectares with solar-powered borehole at the pilot site.
The minister, Idi Mukhtar, expressed joy at the event, informing herders that the ministry is working with different agencies to provide vital infrastructure, which include a 15-kilometre access road, solar boreholes, a dam, irrigation facilities, schools, healthcare, markets, electricity, and security.
According to the minister, the project aims to stop the free movement of cattle in the Abuja city centre, reaffirming the government’s plan to make the Kawu Grazing Reserve a model for sustainable development.
He explained that the reserve would host more than 10,000 herders and their families, describing the project as a promise fulfilled, saying it would bring water, pasture, and social amenities to the community.
Mukhtar inspected the only existing dam in the area, which would now be used to support dry-season farming and pasture cultivation, while launching the first borehole in the reserve.
The community has lauded the move by the government, even as the minister added that more boreholes would be built for both human and animal use.
The minister also demonstrated seed and pasture cultivation, distributing Napier grass for feeding livestock and assured herders that farming support would continue, stressing that the reserve is coming alive through such efforts.
The ministry would work with other agencies, such as the Rural Electrification Agency, which is to provide solar power, Universal Basic Education Commission to support schools, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare would provide primary healthcare, Federal Ministry of Water Resources would rehabilitate the dam, while security agencies are be deployed to safeguard the environment.
The minister added that a 15-kilometre road would be rehabilitated in collaboration with the Federal Capital Territory Administration and the World Bank’s Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, and a veterinary clinic would be set up under the Livestock Productivity Resilience Project (L-PRES).
He stressed that once these facilities are in place, the reserve would attract investment in milk processing, meat production, and manure manufacturing, turning it into an economic hub, calling it a practical step in President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The Director of L-PRES, Dr. Sanusi Abubakar, has assured that the planned infrastructure woulf be delivered, saying the focus is to be on water, pasture, and animal health to reduce conflicts between herders and farmers, while the Senior Special Adviser to the President on Livestock Development, Idris Abiola-Ajimobi, noted that ₦13 billion was allocated for livestock development in the 2024 budget, adding that more funding is being secured from international partners, as the pilot project in Kawu would serve as a model before expansion to other grazing reserves nationwide.
The National President of the Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria (KACRAN), Khalil Bello, welcomed the project, assuring that herders are ready to move to the Kawu Grazing Reserve and fully support the government’s initiative.
