By Juliana Agbo, Abuja
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), an agency of the United Nations Organisation (UNO), has said malnutrition is prevalent in Nigeria due to low consumption of milk and other dairy products.
It also said each consumes an average of eight litres of milk yearly against the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended milk consumption of 210 litres per person.
FAO Country Representative, Fred Kafeero, who spoke at the World Milk Day conference in Abuja, said Nigerian cattle produce less milk due to low investment and slow government policy intervention which would have provided incentives for increased dairy production.
He added that the reason for low milk production in Nigeria could be as a result of the cost of the processed milk which are largely imported.
He said: “There are many structural and operational factors responsible for the majority of our people not having access to affordable milk.
“For some, it is the cost of the milk. Many urban and rural folks can’t afford consuming milk on a regular basis, and that is true, it is expensive, especially when you are talking about processed milk, and even the raw milk they consume is also expensive for the poor people in those rural areas.”
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