Written by Nigeria’s livestock sector, which today contributes between 5 and 8 percent of the country’s GDP despite holding far greater untapped potential, can grow into a $74 billion economy by 2035 if the government moves decisively on feed systems, animal genetics, rural infrastructure and private sector financing, the Minister of Livestock Development, Mr. Idi Mukhtar Maiha, said last week.
Mr. Maiha made the case at the Vanguard Economic Discourse 2026 in Lagos, where he was represented by Prof. Eustace Iyayi.
The minister unveiled a 10-point Nigerian Livestock Growth Acceleration Strategy he described as the roadmap for the sector’s transformation, covering improved feed and fodder systems, animal health, genetics, financing access, market infrastructure, public-private partnerships and technology adoption.
The current numbers show how wide the gap is. Average per capita animal protein consumption in Nigeria sits at 7 to 10 grams per day, according to data from the Ministry of Livestock Development, well below the World Health Organization’s recommended minimum of 20 grams daily.
The minister attributed this deficit directly to low livestock productivity, not to an absence of animals. Nigeria’s livestock population is substantial by African standards. The problem is what happens, or fails to happen, between the animal and the consumer’s plate.
Agriculture contributes about 24 to 26 percent of Nigeria’s national GDP and employs between 35 and 40 percent of the labour force. Livestock alone accounts for nearly one-third of agricultural GDP.
Yet over 25 million Nigerians remain at risk of acute food insecurity, according to estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Bank, while food inflation stayed above 30 percent in recent periods, eroding household purchasing power at the bottom of the income scale.
Prof. Iyayi said addressing food insecurity and inflation together requires urgent, coordinated action to shift agriculture from a sector of potential into one of performance. That phrase captures exactly what has eluded Nigeria’s livestock sector for decades.
The 10-point strategy is ambitious. Its credibility depends on whether the private sector participation the minister called for materialises in actual investment rather than conference commitments. Feed costs remain the largest single constraint for poultry and fish farmers, where feed accounts for roughly 70 percent of production costs. Without structural reform to the maize and soybean value chains, which AGROW is now also targeting, the livestock strategy’s upstream promises will run into the same input cost wall that has held the sector back.
What is different in 2026 is the convergence of multiple financing interventions at once. The World Bank’s AGROW project, the SPIN irrigation programme and now the livestock roadmap are all moving simultaneously.
Whether their implementation timelines align in ways that support each other or proceed in isolation will be the real test of coordination inside the federal government.
