The Nation Newspaper

Tag: dairy farming

  • Women dig for gold in dairy farming

    Over 900 rural women in Oyo State have carved a niche for themselves in the dairy industry. They are riding on the back of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc’s Dairy Development Programme (DPP), which engages Dutch farmers to train local pastoralists on modern dairy farming practices. The budding women entrepreneurs’ success, if replicated, will help raise the level of domestic milk production and create more jobs along the milk value chain. It will also give impetus to the Federal Government’s economic diversification, Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    Mrs Umu Abdullahi, a dairy farmer, in Iseyin, Oyo State, is in a joyous mood. When The Nation met her last week, she could not hide her excitement over the dramatic turnaround in the fortunes of her dairy business.

    The pastoralist, who once trekked long distances to sell local cheese, popularly called ‘wara’, made from raw milk crudely preserved at home, said she could now boast of steady income from a thriving dairy venture.

    “My family now makes steady income from selling raw milk from our cows,” Mrs Abdullahi said, adding that with more people coming to trade and live in the community,  sales have increased. “We also sell other things such as foodstuff to residents and transporters,” she added.

    She recalled that before her remarkable transition from unorthodox and subsistent dairy farming to a modern, commercially-driven one, she, with an estimated 900 rural women in Oyo State, had no hygienic means of preserving or processing their fresh milk.

    As a result, they only drank milk in the morning. The income from their ‘wara’ sales wasn’t commensurate to the effort they put in either. But the big break in their rather crude, unrewarding dairy businesses came in 2010 when dairy giant FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc chose Oyo State for the implementation of its Dairy Development Programme (DPP).

    The programme was aimed at helping Nigeria achieve self-sufficiency in milk production and consumption, and create jobs along the milk value chain. It was a unique business model where certified dairy farmers from The Netherlands were engaged to train and advise their Nigerian counterparts on best farming practices.

    Under the initiative, Dutch farmers train local pastoralists on dairy farming practices like animal health and welfare, farm record keeping, feeding and watering, calf-rearing, milking hygiene, cow fertility, hoof care, housing and barn design, among others.

    The overall goal of the multi-billion naira scheme was to sustainably develop the local dairy value chain by improving milk quality and increasing milk production on dairy farms, while also supporting the Federal Government’s Backward Integration Policy (BPP) aimed at building capacity in local manufacturing to reduce imports, create jobs and drive industrialisation.

    Since 2010 when the programme kicked off, FrieslandCampina WAMCO has been investing in the DDP by establishing a Milk Bulking Centre in Iseyin and a large network of functional Milk Collection Centres (MCCs) in Fasola, Alaga, Maya and Iseyin, all in Oyo State. It also set up 10 milk collection points and dedicated 15 specialised milk trucks to facilitate the process of milk collection in the DDP area.

    That was not all. The company, alongside its partners, also provided 50 solar-powered boreholes in the milk producing communities of Oyo State, completed over 200 hectares of pasture development, and trained over 3,500 dairy farmers/milk suppliers on various topics in modern dairy production.

    The facilities literarily worked magic, providing sustainable livelihoods to over 90 farming communities where dairy farms have been made more effective. Today, Abdullahi and other rural women dairy farmers in various Oyo communities in Iseyin, Fasola, Alaga, and Maya have been testifying to the immense social and lifestyle benefits that the DDP has brought their way.

    “I now belong to a women forum they encouraged us to form and join where we learn and discuss things of great benefit to us as women, another woman dairy farmer, who identified herself as Hawawu, told The Nation.

    She said before the programme came on stream, things were very hard. “But today, my life and that of my family is easier. I have even started an additional business of selling uncooked rice. I am happy.”

    According to Hawawu, the advent of WAMCO’s DDP has significantly improved her profit margin. “My profit has improved. Every day, after the cows are milked, we go and deliver the milk to the collection centres and the company (FrieslandCampina WAMCO) pays us money very promptly,” she said.

    The DPP, The Nation learnt, drew its strength from the signing and renewal of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between FrieslandCampina WAMCO and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as well as the Oyo State government.

    The dairy giant, which pioneered the programme, also collaborated with the Dutch Government and Sahel Capital. Its Managing Director, Mr Ben Langat, gave more details of the scheme’s milestones. His words: “Our DPP has supported four master farms where dairy projects are currently running and there are 16 more under development.

    “It has impacted over 100,000 people from raw milk supplies to the creation of job opportunities to host communities, for example – transporters, feed, veterinary supplies etc. This has engendered business development around the milk collection centres.”

    Langat said the DDP was the nucleus of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes. According to him, it transfers over 140 years of FrieslandCampina’s global expertise to Nigeria, bringing gold-standard Dutch farming practices to the nation.

    “The DDP is the second chapter of our history and a new era for the dairy industry in Nigeria,” he said, noting that studies have shown that 95 per cent of farmers in Nigeria are nomadic and they face challenges such as lack of knowledge, poor infrastructure and low financing.

    The FrieslandCampina WAMCO boss added that the DDP stimulates local sourcing of raw milk and supports the Federal Government’s initiative of improving dairy farming. He said it also enables dairy farmers to run their businesses optimally as well as raise the quality and quantity of their dairy production.

    This, according to Langat, was done through knowledge-sharing, training courses and exchange programmes with a number of partners. He said across the 90 communities in Southwest Nigeria, various dairy value chain actors were identified and training organised for them.

    Raw milk was collected and processed. Funds were made available for crossbreeding and hybrid pasture cultivation.

    Langat also said the company facilitates an annual “Farmer2Farmer” programme, where certified Dutch dairy farmers train and assist Nigerian farmers in extension services and improved dairy farming practices particularly targeted at increasing the quality and quantity of raw milk production.

    To further promote dairy development in Nigeria, he said the company hosted Nigeria’s first “Dairy Farmers’ Day” in December 2017, with over 300 dairy farmers in attendance.

    The MD stated that the company was keen to institutionalise this event as a day of honour for dairy farmers, bringing together stakeholders from the public, private and academic sectors to develop and implement a long term and inclusive national development plan for the dairy sector.

     

    Dairy co-operatives

    as game changer

    The women farmers were grouped into two co-operative societies of 30 members each, namely: Fashola Women Dairy Co-operative and Alaga Women Dairy Co-operative. They were trained on entrepreneurial and leadership skills to increase their income and sources of livelihood.

    To further expand their revenue streams, the members were also trained on vocations such as bead making, fabric designs and dress making.

    FrieslandCampina WAMCO provided shops for them to sell provisions and other items to members of their communities. These forward-looking women were also empowered to sell in these shops milk products made from the raw milk they initially supplied to the milk collection centres.

    Families living in these DDP-enhanced communities use the potable water provided by FrieslandCampina WAMCO for milking, domestic and personal hygiene such as cooking, cleaning and drinking. Some of the women have made significant socio-economic progress; a good number of them have built houses and moved out of the thatched huts they used to live in.

    Indeed, one of the key successes of the DDP was the increasing appreciation of women farmers as game changers in the communities. The programme has grown new sources of income for rural women and they now have direct control over their income. There is also increased food security for rural families.

    Also, dairy products have become more available and affordable for these women and their families in the milk producing communities. More importantly, perhaps, the overall quality of raw milk supplies have improved, with bacterial contamination reduced considerably. Farmers’ competencies have increased as a result of sustained training.

    Langat confirmed that both the DDP and the dairy co-operatives have proven to be successful business models that encouraged grassroots economic development through milk production. He said they have also increased transactional activities and improved family lifestyles in the milk producing communities.

    He also said the private sector-led push, through backward integration, to raise the level of local milk production and create jobs, has helped his company to develop new capacities, policies and practices that benefit pastoralists, small-holder farmers and Nigeria’s dairy sector as a whole.

    But as hugely successful and rewarding as the programme may have been, particularly for the new crop of women entrepreneurs that have emerged, the challenge of sustainability remains. This is so because for now, FrieslandCampina WAMCO is the only dairy manufacturer, sourcing part of its raw milk locally through the DDP.

    The thinking, therefore, is that since the scheme bodes well for the Federal Government’s backward integration policy that encourages building capacity in local manufacturing to significantly reduce imports and create jobs, more dairy manufacturers needed to come on board to expand the scope of the programme.

    More importantly, the involvement of other manufacturers will help achieve Nigeria’s milk self sufficiency target. Currently, output of milk per cow per day in Nigeria is about 1 litre, compared to other African countries like Kenya and Uganda with between 30 to 40 litres of milk per cow per day.

    This, according to experts, is because Nigeria’s dairy sector is still largely characterised by cattle ownership, belonging to nomadic Fulani pastoralists. The pastoralists go for days on long distances to graze their cattle and look for pasture and water for them. This affects the quality and quantity of their milk.

    Besides, available statistics put the annual demand of milk in Nigeria at 1.1 billion litres. The estimated annual production is 400 million litres, leaving annual demand/supply gap of 700 million litres. This is clearly an opportunity for dairy companies as well as Nigerian dairy farmers to benefit as they bridge this sizeable gap.

  • President hails Danish initiative on dairy farming

    President Muhammadu Buhari said yesterday that an initiative on dairy farming, being championed by Denmark and Kaduna State government, would curb clashes between cattle herders and farmers.

    He spoke when he received the Denmark ambassador, Mr. Torben Gettermann, at the State House, Abuja.

    The President, in a statement by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, noted that the establishment of dairy farms, as being promoted by Denmark, would save the country from clashes between herders and farmers, worsened by population explosion.

    He said when the farms “are economically viable, herders will see the need to stay in one place, as they will realise that productive considerations, rather than the number of herds of cattle, are more important.”

    On the concept of dairy farming, Gettermann said the plan was to have 1,000 families of herdsmen with 12,000 herds of cattle in a location, where they would have veterinary attention, schools for their children and live as a small community.

    A Danish company, Arla, he said, would buy the milk.

    “The Danish government will bring investors through its Agriculture counsellor in the country, while the Kaduna State government will provide initial infrastructure and funding.

    “Dairy farming is not the same thing as ranching. It will yield better meat, and the Danish company will buy the milk from the farmers. A pilot project will start in Kaduna, and then move to other locations, as it becomes commercially viable,” the ambassador, who spent four years in Nigeria, said.

    After 40 years in the service of his country, Gettermann is proceeding on retirement.

  • ‘Smallholder dairy farming model best for milk production’

    FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc Managing Director (MD) Ben Langat says the company is in Nigeria for the long haul. According to him, the firm’s investment in its Dairy Development Programme (DDP), in partnership with the Federal Government, attests to this. He says smallholder dairy farming remains the best model for dairy development in the country because of its immense job creation potential and other multiplier effects. The MD, in a chat with journalists in his Lagos office, unveils plans to replicate the success of the DDP in its pilot state of Oyo on others, if the government addresses infrastructure. Assistant Editor CHIKODI OKEREOCHA reports.

    What is your overview of Nigeria’s dairy sector?

    The economy is still slowly recovering hence the low demand across consumer goods. This has given rise to frequent purchase and top-up neighbourhood shopping trips (on need basis) particularly for dairy. Availability and affordability remain major determining factors for purchase decision-making given low disposable income. Having said this, affordability must be matched with quality to ensure adequate nutrition; this is the balance FrieslandCampina WAMCO offers our consumers. With increasing figures of malnutrition across the country, we consistently ensure consumers have access to quality dairy nutrition in various portion packs to reach deeper into the bottom of the pyramid. What is also important is consumer understanding of the various kinds of dairy options available (full cream, filled milk, ready to drink etc) and their nutritional content, so as to make informed decision on their nutritional needs. We have a mission to nourish Nigerians with quality dairy nutrition, hence our commitment of providing affordable dairy for families, even more importantly, offering informed knowledge on the goodness of milk to consumers across all life stages. We believe in Nigeria and we are here to stay.

    What is your ‘grass to glass’ initiative all about?

    FrieslandCampina is guided by the purpose: Nourishing by Nature. This represents our resolve to continually provide better nutrition for the world, a good living for our farmers now and for generations to come. This purpose aims at helping to solve three major global challenges, which is of high relevance to both consumers and the communities where we operate. These include: Growing world population: our company wants to help feed the growing world population, ensure food and nutrition security and provide affordable dairy nutrition. Ageing farmers: We want to make sure that our farmers earn adequate income to maintain their farms and to create a positive future for themselves and their children; and enhance attractiveness for young farmers. Scarcity of natural raw materials: we want to build a more sustainable dairy supply chain from farm to consumer, thereby reducing the usage of scarce natural resources. We know that milk and dairy products hold huge potential to meet these challenges. Dairy can improve nutrition for hundreds of millions of Nigerians as part of more balanced and sustainable diets. Our grass to glass story showcases our ownership of a unique milk chain: from the grazing of grass by well cared-for cows and the skill and professionalism of member dairy farmers, which forms the basis for good quality milk, to the transportation from the farm to our production facilities where it is processed to finished products- Peak or Three Crowns milk and making it available to consumers as part of a healthy diet. Throughout this process, we take our responsibility for quality very seriously and we have developed our own integral quality system: a single approach to guarantee the safety and quality of the entire chain, from the farm right through to distribution.

    How exactly does milk improve human nutrition?

    There is a lot of natural goodness in milk; a glass of milk daily makes a very big difference to the nutrition of children, adults and the elderly. Milk and dairy foods are nutrient-dense foods supplying energy and significant amounts of protein and micronutrients. The inclusion of dairy products adds diversity to plant-based diets. FrieslandCampina is extremely knowledgeable about milk and its derivative products. We believe that our products have a higher purpose than just being delicious and nutritious. Our product development process starts with a well-founded identification of the need for nutrients based on comprehensive nutritional research. Our Peak brand is extra-fortified with 28 vitamins and minerals to meet the Required Dietary Allowance. The Three Crowns range is a heart friendly portfolio and it is endorsed by the Nigerian Heart Foundation. The Peak 456 provides specialised nutrition for children 4-6 years old and Peak Choco, is our rich Chocolate drink. To drive the importance of dairy nutrition, these brands have designed flagship campaigns including: Pecadomo (Peak–can-do-more) to encourage versatility in the use of milk for improved nutrition.  We have the Three Crowns Fitness Challenge that communicates the importance of nutrition and exercise and Peak 456 under the “Drink. Move. Be Strong” campaign educates children and families on the importance of drinking milk combined with an hour of physical activity or play outside a day to fulfill the recommended daily intake of core nutrients including Vitamin D vital for helping children grow, develop and be strong

    How successful has your Dairy Development Programme (DDP) been?  Do you have plans to replicate this in other states across Nigeria?

    To be honest, the milk currently being sourced from cows by pastoralists who walk those long distances in search of food and water is too low; it is just about a litre per cow. To raise that to commercial quantities, we should be aiming for say 10 litres per cow. Iseyinland in Oyo State, where we currently operate the DDP with growing success, is not too far from our factory and headquarters here in Lagos. Secondly, there is a good concentration of farmers that have lived there for many years who have traditional knowledge of herding. Our truck load of milk from there, if it leaves in the morning, gets here in four hours in time for the milk to get to the factory fresh. We started with a Milk Collection Centre there in 2011 and now we have five milk collection centres and a Bulking Centre, which is where we pool all the milk into a truck and move it to the factory. There is still a lot of work to be done besides just milking the cow. To scale up milk volume per cow, you need the right kind of breed. We must acknowledge that other states have approached us to bring the DDP to them.

    Could you be more specific?

    We were humbled by the visit of the Governor of Kebbi State to seek support for his efforts in improving dairy in his state. We have sent our people to give technical support to the state. It is very difficult to move fresh milk from Kebbi to Lagos by road in time for processing. However, whenever sustainable fresh milk volumes are substantial enough in a particular location, FrieslandCampina WAMCO will be more than ready to start processing there.  There are huge infrastructural limitations to contend with, which only government can take care of. But we are ready to expand the DDP to other regions systematically because it is very expensive. We are not making any money out of it yet. When our pilot becomes even more successful and profitable, it will become easier to replicate. They are so many opportunities, for example, the school feeding programme initiated by government, the possibilities are endless.

    Are you satisfied with the level of support you and other dairy companies are getting from government on the DDP?

    Let’s be clear on this; FrieslandCampina WAMCO is the only multinational doing dairy development in Nigeria and we do this in partnership with the Federal Government. We have had the Honourable Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, honour our invitations and sometimes set out with me and my team as early as 6 o’clock in the morning from Ibadan to Fashola Community in Oyo State because he wanted to see farmers milking their cows. That tells you there is a huge support and commitment from the Federal Government. For similar reasons, we commend also Oyo State Government. Government would also do well to improve infrastructure; especially by providing good roads, water and power. You can’t do anything with cows without a good supply of clean water. So far, we have sank 45 solar-powered bore holes, which provides water not only for the cows, but all the five communities where we are already succeeding with the DDP – they are Fashola, Maya, Saki, Iseyin and Alaga-all in Oyo State.

    Why do you think other big players in the dairy sector are yet to follow your example?

    It is very simple. We are not making money from the DDP. Rather, we do it as a responsibility in line with our purpose of providing better nutrition now and for generations to come. FrieslandCampina WAMCO is here for the long run, not for short term gains. We are committed to our mission of providing quality dairy nutrition for Nigerians; and improving the living standards for our farmers now and for generations to come. Our shareholders are investing in the DDP because we are looking at the bigger picture and there is a point where the two cross. We are continuously investing in the DDP; we believe in the future of the programme.

    Which dairy models do you think will work for Nigeria?

    We need to get some definitions clear. There are different levels of how dairy farming or cattle-rearing is done globally. It starts with the smallest and very traditional one by pastoralists who graze their few cows on any space or land that is available, migrating from place to place in search of pasture and water. In Africa, the Masai and the Fulani are mostly pastoralists. Their cows produce very little milk because they rear them for meat and sale proceeds. Smallholder dairy farmers form the second level. They are usually a family with some acres of land and they can keep cows within that location and are able to feed them with pasture generated within that land or its surrounding. The cows are confined and easier to control and manage disease as well as collect their milk. The third level is commercial farming, which is now hugely industrialised. In countries like Saudi Arabia you’d find a farm with thousands of cows in air conditioned dairies, fully mechanised using robots, etc. Ranching is the fourth level, which is typically driven by the size of land available and typically focused on beef rearing. Ranches are large farms that are well secluded for thousands of cows to move in there.

    So which of them will work best  and do we have similar examples elsewhere?

    Smallholder farms have been the most successful dairy model so far and that is the model for FrieslandCampina WAMCO DDP. Every household that has some land can build a business on it with five to 10 cross breed cows. It makes it easier for us to collect milk. If you go to countries like Kenya, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Uganda, smallholder farmers are thriving. So in Oyo, our DDP is progressing from pastoralists to smallholder farms. With cross breed cows, you can get up to 10 to 15 litres of milk per cow instead of just one or two litres.

    How have you handled technology transfer as part of your ongoing DDP?

    We call it the ‘Farmer2Farmer programme’ where farmers from The Netherlands visit Nigeria, spend time with farmers in Oyo State, and interact with them to share global best practices with our local farmers. We organised Nigeria’s first ever Dairy Farmers Day late last year. Leading to the event, two Dutch farmers spent about two weeks in the DDP communities training local farmers on best dairy farming practices. This has yielded a lot of benefits and it will be a continuous thing. Farmer-2-Farmer language is well understood irrespective of where they are in the world. They got very practical, demonstrated what nutritious pasture is and what it isn’t, what is hygienic for cows and what isn’t, etc. (Gets up and points at a poster image of a local farmer on his conference room wall and says:) He is a smallholder farmer and a native to his location. His farm is now bearing similarities to what you will see in a commercial farm in The Netherlands with improved hygiene and proper keeping of farm records.

    What is your assessment of government’s policies, especially the ease of doing business?

    I can say clearly that government policies toward the ease of doing business in Nigeria are commendable, especially for new investors and this should help boost the economic climate. What also needs to be done is to strengthen the business climate to support old businesses to compete fairly and sustainably too.  

    Looking at your 2017 financials, what is your outlook for 2018 considering the gradual strengthening of the economy?

    Exchange rate impacts heavily on business operations. It’s not going to be easy for the exchange rate to go down again unless something drastic happens. What we need to do now is to remain stable. We have seen some stability and I will say that I am happy with the predictability, even though I see that the euro is getting stronger. So, for as long as things remain stable, I think we are going to have a strong result in 2018.

    What is your biggest challenge in Nigeria as a manufacturer?

    The consumer’s disposable income is reduced and pressured. During seasons like Ramadan and Christmas, manufacturers struggle with adequate supply because products sell very fast. Outside of such seasons, sales move very slowly because consumers still contend with economic pressures. Consumers buy smaller, some shift from premium full cream milk to filled milk. The biggest thing for me would be to see the economy bounce back to its booming days.

    What is the difference between Nigeria and Holland Peak milk?

    (Gets up again to bring samples of both products from a shelf) Both of them are Peak and full cream; one is Peak Gold made in Holland and the other is Peak Full Cream made in Nigeria. One is more expensive, being imported. Some high income earners may say ‘I want what is produced in Holland’. But it is the same milk. Indeed, Peak Full Cream has more content than Peak Gold.

    How many jobs do you see the dairy sector creating for Nigerians?

    Let me use our DDP pilot to illustrate the endless possibilities of job creation we bring to the sector. At the moment, we have about 3,500 dairy farmers, male and female. This has brought a very positive lifestyle change, particularly to the female farmer, who would typically petty trade her local cheese. But now she earns much more, her income is steady and growing. So is her husband’s. Among the 3,500 farmers, you will see one farming cluster depositing as much as 500 litres of milk to our collection centre because he and many others bring their cows together, live in one place, milk their cows together and deliver their milk as one. So, one man out of the 3,500 can actually represent a pool of 200 – 300 others. If you go to the five locations where we have the DDP – Fashola, Maya, Alaga, Saki and Iseyin, all in Oyo State, you will see a booming adjunct industry that wasn’t there before – suppliers selling dairy feed, minerals, milking cans, veterinary medicine, etc. What do you think will then happen as we further develop nutritious pasture, etc for the first 50 smallholder farms, which we have already identified? Imagine the multiplier effect.

    What makes FrieslandCampina WAMCO so resolute in pursuing this DDP for the long term? 

    We believe that our model is what can ensure success in Nigeria’s dairy development. This is what we have communicated from time to time to the Federal Government and they understand this as well. If every state government will adopt the smallholder dairy farming model, we could have local self-sustenance in the future. It is not something that can happen immediately, but even its gradual but steady progress would create huge and widespread impact on the livelihood of farmers, daily nutrition for all Nigerians and by extension, the overall health of the nation. We are committed to making a success of it.

     

     

  • Nigeria’s dairy farming on global stage

    Nigeria must keep up its progress in dairy agribusiness by encouraging public-private partnerships.

    A Nigerian postgraduate student, Oyewale Abioye, made this submission to the Chicago Council on Global Affairs in Washington DC, United States.

    The occasion was the just-concluded Global Food Security Symposium held in Washington.

    Abioye, a student of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Ibadan, was the only student from a Nigerian university on the 2018 Next Generation delegation.

    He spoke keenly about his interaction with dairy pastoralists during his research evaluation of the Dairy Development Programme (DDP) run by FrieslandCampina WAMCO Plc in Oyo State.

    “Dairy farmers need to identify the value in the value chain and only then can they ascertain where exactly the government and private sectors can assist in bridging those gaps”, Abioye said.

    According to him, vaccines, food choices, milk hygiene and access to veterinary care are the fundamental concerns of Oyo dairy farmers whose livelihoods and businesses have improved significantly since FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s intervention through its DPP.

    In a panel discussion moderated by Trent McKnight, founder of AgriCorps, Abioye introduced “Project mDairy”, a novel mobile service platform he designed alongside three other youth innovators, for dairy pastoralists and smallholder farmers to access information and best-practice tips on the dairy value chain.

    Abioye said he was inspired to do Project mDairy when FrieslandCampina WAMCO partnered with Delft University of Technology on the Dutch-Nigerian Students Business Challenge.

  • How we’re boosting dairy farming, by WAMCO chief

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Rahul Colaco has restated the commitment of the firm to raise the standard of food nutrients in the country by boosting dairy farming.

    He said the firm is at the forefront of boosting dairy farming and making farming an attractive occupation to small scale entrepreneurs.

    Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh in Abuja, at the weekend, he said as a major partner to the Federal Government, the firm, with its ongoing multibillion naira dairy development and expansion programme, with over 2500 local dairy farmers, is a reaffirmation of its commitment to growing Nigeria’s dairy industry.

    He said: “On our part, we are committed to raising dairy farming to a higher level in Nigeria and making small scale entrepreneurs to have pride in agriculture. Through our dairy development programme, we develop local farmers in three ways: through practical knowledge transfer by local FrieslandCampina dairy development officers; expert training on feeding, breeding, hygiene, disease control and milk payment, and; financing of local infrastructure such as milk collection centres, boreholes, milk collection trucks, among others.”

    The objective is to raise raw milk quality and safety, increase farm productivity and support farmers in getting a market for their milk.

    The firm showed a 12-minute documentary detailing how it has improved the dairy farming skills and incomes of Fulani herdsmen from subsistence to growing commercial farming. The documentary was produced in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

    The minister commended the firm for its commitment and noted that the government is making steady progress in harnessing dairy farming in the country, adding that it should, in the next four years, see some of the benefits of its investments and partnerships, which will be reviewed for future growth.

    The Federal Ministry of Agriculture signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with FrieslandCampina WAMCO in April 2011 on dairy development. He said: “Since then we have been making steady progress. For us this is a privilege and a responsibility that is fully linked with our mission statement of nourishing Nigerians with quality dairy nutrition and this addresses issues of nutrient security, dairy sufficiency and improving farmer’s income.”

  • How we’re boosting dairy farming, by WAMCO chief

    How we’re boosting dairy farming, by WAMCO chief

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Rahul Colaco has restated the commitment of the firm to raise the standard of food nutrients in the country by boosting dairy farming.

    He said the firm is at the forefront of boosting dairy farming and making farming an attractive occupation to small scale entrepreneurs.

    Speaking during a courtesy visit to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh in Abuja, at the weekend, he said as a major partner to the Federal Government, the firm, with its ongoing multibillion naira dairy development and expansion programme, with over 2500 local dairy farmers, is a reaffirmation of its commitment to growing Nigeria’s dairy industry.

    He said: “On our part, we are committed to raising dairy farming to a higher level in Nigeria and making small scale entrepreneurs to have pride in agriculture. Through our dairy development programme, we develop local farmers in three ways: through practical knowledge transfer by local FrieslandCampina dairy development officers; expert training on feeding, breeding, hygiene, disease control and milk payment, and; financing of local infrastructure such as milk collection centres, boreholes, milk collection trucks, among others.”

    The objective is to raise raw milk quality and safety, increase farm productivity and support farmers in getting a market for their milk.

    The firm showed a 12-minute documentary detailing how it has improved the dairy farming skills and incomes of Fulani herdsmen from subsistence to growing commercial farming. The documentary was produced in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

    The minister commended the firm for its commitment and noted that the government is making steady progress in harnessing dairy farming in the country, adding that it should, in the next four years, see some of the benefits of its investments and partnerships, which will be reviewed for future growth.

    The Federal Ministry of Agriculture signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with FrieslandCampina WAMCO in April 2011 on dairy development. He said: “Since then we have been making steady progress. For us this is a privilege and a responsibility that is fully linked with our mission statement of nourishing Nigerians with quality dairy nutrition and this addresses issues of nutrient security, dairy sufficiency and improving farmer’s income.”