The Kogi State Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (Kogi L-PRES) has taken a significant step toward enhancing livestock productivity by training 60 veterinarians, para-veterinarians, and community animal health workers on effective disease surveillance.
The State Project Coordinator (SPC), Dr. Olufemi Bolarin, in his opening speech, emphasized that “the livestock sector plays a pivotal role in the economic growth and food security of our state.”
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He highlighted the numerous challenges facing the sector, including infectious diseases, noting that both existing and emerging diseases can devastate livestock populations and hinder productivity.
Dr. Bolarin underscored the importance of effective disease surveillance in preventing outbreaks, safeguarding public health, and ensuring the sustainability of the livestock industry for both livestock keepers and consumers.
He expressed his gratitude to the Governor, His Excellency Ahmed Usman Ododo, for his unwavering support and commitment to the development of the livestock sector. Dr. Bolarin urged participants to actively engage in the training sessions, ask questions, and share valuable experiences to enhance learning outcomes.
The training sessions, facilitated by Dr. Hadiza Abdullahi and Dr. Majeed Baje, covered eight critical areas: the basic concepts of livestock diseases, an introduction to livestock disease surveillance, disease reporting, biosecurity and biosafety measures, sample collection in disease surveillance settings, survey approaches and design in livestock disease surveillance, participatory epidemiology in disease surveillance, disease outbreak investigation, and the roles of stakeholders in disease surveillance.
