Description

Amongst all the livestock that makes up the farm animals in Nigeria, ruminants, comprising sheep, goats and cattle, constitute the farm animals largely reared by farm families in the country’s agricultural system.

Nigeria’s livestock resources consist of nineteen million, five hundred thousand (19,500,000) cattle, seventy-two million, five hundred thousand (72,500,000) goats, forty-one million, three hundred thousand (41,300,000) sheep, seven million, one hundred thousand (7,100,000) pigs and twenty-eight thousand (28,000) camels according to the National Agricultural Sample Survey (2011) as released by the minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Audu Ogbeh.

Cattle (cows) are the most common type of large domesticated ungulates. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae, are the most widespread species of the genus Bos, and are most commonly classified collectively as Bos taurus.

Cattle are commonly raised as livestock for meat (beef or veal, see beef cattle), for milk (see dairy cattle), and for hides, which are used to make leather. They are used as riding animals and draft animals (oxen or bullocks, which pull carts, plows and other implements).

Beef is a culinary name for meat which is obtained from animals such as buffalo and cows. Beef is one of the world most consumed meat after pork in terms of volume consumption. Beef can be harvested from bulls, cows, steers or heifers.

Acceptability of beef as a food source varies in different parts of the world. Beef can be cooked in several ways such as grilling, roasting, broiling, griddle and barbecue.

The major driving factor that is fueling the demand for the beef market in Nigeria is the rise in the disposable income of the consumers and rise in urbanization.

Millions of Nigerians make their livelihood from beef enterprises as producer, marketers and transporters. Other’s as processors of beef products, feed millers, veterinary services and in agricultural machinery.

It also generates a lot of revenue to the government through various forms of taxation. In spite of all the contributions, the livestock sub-sector is a relatively neglected part of agriculture with its supporting services collapsing well ahead of others.

Though Nigeria plays a vital role in the livestock economy of Africa, her livestock production is not enough to meet the domestic consumption requirement. The total supply of livestock products fall short of the overall demand.
Beef consumption amounted to about three hundred and eighty thousand (380,000) tons in 2014 and is projected to grow up to one million, three hundred thousand (1,300,000) tons by 2050.

The meat market in Nigeria has poor infrastructure. Slaughter of livestock and fresh meat trade is concentrated in the public open markets without packing and refrigeration, resulting in a significant reduction in the quality and shelf life.

According to GEMS research (Funded by the World Bank and The Department for International Development (DFID), the Growth and Employment in States programme) It is estimated that annual domestic and imported slaughtering is around seven million, five hundred thousand (7,500,000) cattle (one million tonnes) with a livestock value of about ₦ 525-550 million.

The larger proportion of these animals’ population are however largely concentrated in the northern region of the country than the southern region. Specifically about ninety percent (90%) of the country’s cattle population and seventy percent (70%) of the sheep and goat populations are concentrated in northern region of the country.

Concentration of Nigeria’s livestock-base in the northern region is most likely to have been influenced by the ecological condition of the region which is characterized by low rainfall duration, lighter sandy soils and longer dry season.

Livestock moves to meet the major areas of demand in the south, south-east and south-west, particularly the Lagos-Ibadan Axis.

Traditional open-air market stalls dominate red meat retail sector accounts for about eighty-five percent (85%) of all trade, and sell all items, including meat and all products for the fifth quarter.

Other small but growing end-market segments and their share of the market are retail store (3%), retail supermarket (1%), institutions (3%), fast food (5%) and hotels and restaurants (3%).

Red meat trade is essentially based on the same day of slaughter, and retail sale in fresh (non-refrigerated) form whereas customers mostly consumed the same day as well. There is little product differentiation by carcass or cut quality.

This report seeks to examine the financial viability or otherwise of buying and selling cow in Nigeria, purchasing the cattles (cows) from the north transporting and selling same in the southern part of the country.