President Muhammadu Buhari has lamented on the culture of waste in the country due to poor preservation of agricultural produce.

The President was speaking while meeting with the Global Chief Executive Officer of Royal FrieslandCampina of the Netherlands, Mr. Roelof Joosten, at State House, Abuja on Tuesday.

In a statement released by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the president decried the situation in which cattle farmers threw away milk from their animals because they had no means of preserving and processing the product.

“We have failed to develop our assets on a permanent basis. This, we are determined to work on,” the president promised.

He urged FrieslandCampina to collaborate with Nigeria in educating cattle farmers by organising them into cooperatives for better business. He added that they need to be thought that “Quality matters more than quantity,” he said.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, who was also present at the event promised that herdsmen would soon be organized into ranches in the country, with special pasture and water, which would give better yield, and make the animals healthier.

President Buhari with Chief of Staff Abba Kyari, Friesland Campina Global CEO Mr Roelof Joosten and Chairman Friesland Campina Wamco Nigeria, Mr Jacobs Moyo Ajekigbe as he receives a gift from the Global CEO Friesland Campina Netherlands Mr Roelof Joosten at the Statehouse on 9th August 2016

President Buhari with Chief of Staff Abba Kyari, takes a group photo with Friesland Campina Global CEO, Mr Roelof Joosten and his delegation at the Statehouse on 9th August 2016

Ogbeh disclosed that special flasks, which could preserve raw milk for up to six hours, would soon be made available to cattle farmers, enabling them get the product to dairies in good quality.

The global head of FrieslandCampina, Roelof Joosten noted that FrieslandCampina is a 145 years old farmer’s cooperative that is owned by 19,000 farmers in the Netherlands.

The company began business in Nigeria in 1973 as FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria. They are more known for some of their iconic brands such as Peak milk, Three Crowns milk, among others. He said that the company wants to partner with the federal government in building a healthier populace through better nutrition, collaborate in the school feeding programme, and promote dairy development in Nigeria.

Joosten said that the company has been providing nutrition support for internally displaced persons in the North east of the country.

Also part of the delegation of the global head of FrieslandCampina to the State House was the Managing Director of FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Mr. Rahul Colaco.