Stakeholders have called for more investment in dairy production to bridge the gap between production, preservation and distribution of the product.
The Technical Adviser (Youth and Gender), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD), Mosunmola Umoru, who spoke at a stakeholders’ workshop in Ikeja, listed challenges facing the industry to include increasing production, maintaining quality and shelf life, and ensuring proper distribution.
The workshop was organised by Tetra Pak West Africa, a firm specialised in developing packages to protect the nutritional value and taste of the products.
According to her, dairy production is largely subsistence as pastoralists account for about 95 per cent of herd used in production, adding that since the pastoralists have little or no education, their production capacity is faulty, which in turn affects the chain – storage, distribution and consumption.
She sought for comprehensive plans and policies of government which would see to it that dairy production is harnessed to its fullest potential to meet the nutritional needs of the masses.
She stressed that strategic investment would require setting up the pastoralists into clusters and teaching them the technology of milking cows, storing milk, packaging and distribution. This commercial dairy farming, she said, would cause an increase in production and ultimately a cut in importation.
The Managing Director, Tetra Pak, Oshiokamele Aruna said the workshop was organised to showcase the firm’s important work in processing and packaging of liquid food, especially dairy.
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He said: “Dairy is an important aspect of our life and we believe it’s a good time to show how we work with people in the industry and harness the opportunities therein.
The Marketing Manager, Solomon Yu, said Tetra Pak is focused on supplying nutrition products for kids and adults to give them a balanced diet He noted that the greatest challenge to dairy milk in Nigeria was affordability.
“Fresh dairy milk is pretty expensive, and to increase consumption we need to make it more affordable by developing new innovative products that will fit into consumer’s lifestyle. We need to find new occasions for dairy so we can have more consumers. That is where Tetra Pak comes in – technological innovations – efficient processing, packaging and distribution. We have an ambient distribution system which saves a lot of money in the process,” Yu said.
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