NIGERIAN ARMY TO BUILD CATTLE RANCHES TO FEED SOLDIERS

The Nigerian Army has revealed a plan to establish cattle ranches across the country to provide meat for soldiers.

The plan was made public by Major General Patrick Akem, the Chief of Army Logistics, on Tuesday, December 20. at the Commissioning of Mogadishu Cantonment New Mammy Market (former Abacha Barracks) in Abuja.

Under the plan, a cattle ranch will be established in each army division in the country.

There is the need for training in mechanized farming if the plan will be successful. The Nigerian army is however, working towards this.

According to the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Tukur Buratai, a group of officers have been sent to Argentina, to study modern, sophisticated cattle rearing practices.

“Argentina has a population of 41 million people, but it feeds about 400 million people around the world with its beef.

“To take it to the next level, we want to adopt a system where the cattle are not just free ranging coming from Sokoto to Port Harcourt, thereby making their meat tough to eat, the products will soon be coming from our own farms and ranches,” the Chief of Army Staff said.

Buratai also stressed that the Barrack Investment Initiative was created as a platform to afford family members of soldiers to build fishing ponds, start vegetable and fruit gardens, raise livestock and chicken.

He added: “We want to tell our wives that they can live beyond the salaries of their husbands, so we are trying to empower the women in the barracks to be able to form co-operatives, so as to access loans and to a large extent be able to fend for themselves and their families, even without the salaries of their husbands.”