The Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN) has applauded the rollout of the National Animal Identification and Traceability System (NAITS) in the South-East.

The South-East Zonal Chairman of MACBAN, Alhaji Gidado Siddiki, disclosed this on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu.

Siddiki described the scheme as a problem-solving mechanism that would help to improve the safety of herders and their cattle in the forests.

He commended the Federal Government for introducing the policy of identifying and tracking livestock from points of birth to slaughter.

He described the innovation as a more advanced method of controlling and monitoring livestock and herders.

He said the system would also help to achieve more sanity in the activities of herdsmen and limit criminality in the bush.

Siddiki said that MACBAN would take steps to educate its members in the zone on the new system.

“This scheme points to the disposition of the government in responding to the emerging needs for a structured plan in the business of livestock breeding and movement across Nigeria.

“It is very true that our herders frequently suffer the loss of their livestock in the hands of marauders in the bush,” he said.

Siddiki, however, called for a simple action plan that would make the herders to easily understand the scheme, given that they were itinerant and did not have good education.

“We appeal for logistics support to enable us to educate the herders on the importance of complying with the scheme,” he said.

He said that the association would wish that the innovation would help to slow down the move to ban the traditional system of cattle grazing in southern Nigeria.

He said this did not mean the association was averse to modern practice in livestock farming.

“However, we implore the authorities to work out an economic and orientation structure for the transition from traditional to modern system of cattle breeding.

“We appreciate the governors, traditional rulers, security agencies and other stakeholders, who contributed to the relative peace that we find in the course of our cattle business in the southeast, Siddiki said.

NAN further reports that NAITS is designed to curb livestock rustling and related criminalities and to assist in identifying and tracking livestock through electronic tags.

The system will also help to identify pastoralists and checkmate the deployment of underaged children as livestock labourers.