Tech developers urged to tap opportunities in Nigeria’s N33trn livestock market

Experts have urged tech developers in Nigeria to tap into the N33 trillion national livestock market.

The experts who spoke at the Livestock247 Developers Connect held in Lagos recently, stressed the need for developers to build software applications that would enhance the livestock market and facilitate its growth.

The Nigerian livestock industry is a N33 trillion market with a projected growth of 1.2 percent year-on-year by 2026.

Dauda Wulgo, chief technology officer of Livestock247 Services, the time has come for tech enthusiasts to look beyond fintech and agritech.

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“What we are agitating for is for developers to focus on the livestock industry and tap the opportunities there by developing tech based solutions,” said Wulgo, who is also the co-founder of Livestock47.

According to him, with the creation of the Ministry of Livestock Development, the livestock industry is evolving into a critical pillar of Nigeria’s economy.

The ministry, created to tackle insistent clashes between farmers and herders in food-producing states across the country, is the first stand-alone livestock body in Africa’s most populous nation, he explained.

Wulgo noted that the mission of Livestock247 is to leverage technology to mitigate the spread of zoonotic diseases through its AIMS platform— Animal Identification and Management Solutions.

“The whole business started with animal identification after Ebola hit Nigeria and when cattle rustling became rampant. We identified that there’s a problem and then we tried to solve it,” he said.

“As tech people, we build applications that tend to solve that problem. It means that developers, whether it’s health, agriculture, or transportation, will automatically become subject matter experts,” he noted.

Wulgo highlighted the need for collaboration among tech enthusiasts from different fields, because “there’s a massive opportunity for all of us in the livestock sector, especially with all that is happening now.”

According to him, technology should be an enabler for easy market access for butchers, animal rearers as well as everyone in the livestock value chain, connecting buyers and sellers together.

Similarly, it should be used to better position the country’s livestock products in the international market through proper abattoir monitoring, he noted.

Ayomide Oni, sales and marketing head of Livestock247 revealed that Nigeria imports 90 percent of its meat needs, hence creating a gap of opportunities for tech developers to proffer solutions.

“Owing to the new Ministry of Livestock Development, a lot of investors are coming in from Saudi Arabia. Therefore, we need fully optimised software that will close the gaps in the sector and provide easy market access,” he said.

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He urged Nigerians to look beyond cattle rearing in the livestock sector to other sub-sectors like poultry, fish farming, and other forms of animal rearing that make up the sector.

“When we think of livestock, we always think of cattle, but there is poultry, rabbits, and fish farming,” he said.

Citing data, he stated that 98 percent of Nigerians rear chickens, 1.3 percent rear rabbits, 46 percent rear goats, 7.3 percent rear pigs, 86 percent rear rams, and 33 percent rear cattle.

“The onus is on us as tech developers to open up the sector through technology and optimise the value chain,” Oni stressed.

According to him, Nigeria can have a standardised and traceable livestock market, especially in tracking animal consumption, however, the sector needs collaboration from both private and public organisations to live up to its great potential.

Oni noted that adopting technology into the livestock market will reduce the spread of zoonotic diseases that spread from animals to humans due to a lack of effective policies and monitoring in the sector.

The livestock sector is a source of livelihood for about 20 million people in Africa’s most populous nation.