The Federal Government on Saturday inaugurated a mini milk collection centre in Tassa Village in Dawakin Kudu Local Government Area of Kano State.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Agriculture, Sabo Nanono, said that the centre would alleviate the plight of milk sellers and improve their business.
Stakeholders in the dairy sector have called for increased investment in dairy production to close the gap between production, preservation and distribution.
The call came from the Technical Adviser (Youth and Gender), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Mosunmola Umoru, who spoke at a stakeholders’ workshop in Ikeja, Lagos organised by Tetra Pak West Africa, a firm specialising in developing packages to protect the nutritional value and taste of the products.
The Federal Government on Sunday said that the proposed cattle ranches it had agreed to set up with 10 states across the country is not solely for Fulani herdsmen.
According to the government, the scheme which will cost N70bn in the first phase (1 to 3 years) will be for any person who is interested in grazing his cattle in any of the facilities in the 10 states where the pilot scheme will start.
A group known as the Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum has rebuffed the Federal Government’s plan to spend N179bn to set up ranches across the country for herdsmen in 10 years, starting with a N70bn budget under the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
The Federal Government announced on Tuesday it has agreed with 10 states to set up ranches to end the constant herder and farmer crisis in the country.
The Secretary of the National Economic Council National Livestock Transformation Plan (NEC) Sub-Committee, Dr. Andrew Kwasari, said the Federal Government and states would spend N70bn in the first three years of the pilot scheme, adding that N179bn would be spent over a 10-year period on the National Livestock implementation.
The Federal Government said it has constituted a stakeholder’s committee to develop a policy framework to boost the dairy industry.
The Minister of State for Industry, Trade and investment Hajia Aisha Abubakar, said that the objective is to attract and achieve local participation in the dairy business; ensure local content development of dairy; encourage joint venture opportunities across strategic segments of the dairy industry and provide financial relief to boost local growth through the participation of women and youths in the sector.
The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has said that cows bred in Nigeria top the list of worst milk producing cows in the world.
The minister made the assertion at the 79th anniversary of Ikoyi Club 1938 in Lagos on Thursday.
He said that an average Nigerian cow produces less than one litre of milk per day compared to its counterparts in other countries where they produce as much as 100 litres per day.
The Nigerian Government and local dairy firm, L&Z Integrated Dairy Farms based in Kano have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at developing the dairy sector and helping to tackle the recurring Fulani herdsmen and farmers clashes in Nigeria.
The MOU signing which took place in Abuja had the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh sign for the Federal Government, while L&Z Integrated Dairy Farm chairman Keith Richards signed for the company.
Denmark’s Minister Counsellor in Nigeria, Jacob Erikstrup, on Wednesday said his government and some Danish companies are committed to helping Nigeria bridge the gap in local milk production.
While speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, the minister said that despite the large importation of milk produce from Denmark to Nigeria, there was a need to increase local milk production.
In an effort to offer sustainable solutions to developing West Africa’s dairy sector, European and West African dairy farmers and stakeholders met on Wednesday, November 2nd in Abuja at a two-day roundtable conference to proffer new business models that will create employment and profit for the industry.
