The Central Livestock Laboratory (LOBOCEL) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock; the Laboratoire d'Insémination Artificielle (LIA) of the Faculty of Agronomy at the Abdou Moumouni University in Niamey and the Laboratoire d'Alimentation Animale (LANA) of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRAN) under the supervision of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock and the Ministry of Higher Education have just been equipped with modern equipment to facilitate the work of researchers.
This material support, at a total cost of two hundred and eighty-two million six hundred and eighty-seven thousand four hundred and seventy-five (282,687,475) CFA francs, will enable these laboratories to work towards the development of livestock production in Niger, as they are Implementing Agencies (IAs) and partner structures of the Regional Centre specialising in Livestock (CRS-EL), which is now destined to become a Regional Centre of Excellence in Livestock for the West African sub-region at ECOWAS level under the impetus of the Food System Resilience Strengthening Programme (FSSRP) in West Africa.
In the long term, the equipment intended for the Central Livestock Laboratory (LABOCEL) will make it possible, through an agreement with the Ministry responsible, to cover the national annual needs for animal health vaccines, estimated at some 36,500,000 doses, including 25 million doses for small ruminants, 10 million doses for cattle and 1.5 million doses for camels, which used to be imported. To help meet the sub-region's needs, those in charge intend to do their utmost to obtain approval for the vaccines from international institutions in the field.
As far as the Artificial Insemination Laboratory (LIA) in the Faculty of Agronomy is concerned, the acquisition of this equipment will improve the training of skills in the field of Artificial Insemination and will be a reference in the ECOWAS region.
