DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY DISTRIBUTED JENNYS AND FEEDS TO DONKEY FARMERS  IN SOKOTO AND KATSINA STATES TO PROMOTE DONKEY PRODUCTION

The socio-economic significance of donkeys in the farming systems of resource-limited communities of northern Nigeria as pack animals for agricultural production, traction for cultivation, transportation of produce, goods and populace cannot be over-emphasized

There has been a great threat of donkeys going into extinction due to the increasing indiscriminate slaughtering of this animal for the International trade of its skin. This has led to calls from different quarters to declare the donkey an endangered specie.

The Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development through the Department of Animal Husbandry Services saw the necessity and organised a Stakeholders’ engagement on the promotion and development of the Donkey Value Chain. The meeting generated some immediate next steps in line with the recommendations which include the following:

  1. Identification, profiling, and registration of donkey farmers, traders and skin processors
  2. Sensitization/ Awareness campaign on the possible extinction of donkeys in North West and North East of Nigeria.

To actualize the recommendation from the Stakeholders’ engagement, DAHS procured and distributed Twenty-five (25) Jennys to support smallholder donkey farmers in Sokoto and Katsina States with Fifty (50) bags of 50kg feed respectively. The distribution of both the feed and animals to the beneficiary donkey farmers was carried out in Katsina State on the 3rd November 2021 while that of Sokoto State was done on the 5th November at the respective FMARD state offices.

The beneficiary farmers expressed gratitude to the Federal Government for the intervention which was the first time for donkey farmers, they promised to manage the animals well to produce more. However, the number of farmers that benefited was very small compared to the number of members in their cooperatives,  they requested for Government to extend this programme to other members of the cooperatives in the state as this would promote an increase in the production of donkeys and avert extinction. 

The activity has created awareness of the need to increase production to avert the possible extinction of donkeys. It has also increased the access of Jenny to the Breeding program  as well enhanced the income of Donkey farmers through an increase in production