NIGERIA – In line with the Central Bank of Nigeria’s commitment to boost local production of milk in the country, Outspan Nigeria Limited (ONL), a subsidiary of Olam Food Ingredients, has opened five milk collection centres in Kano State.
The expansive investment is targeted at achieving large-scale development of the local dairy value chain.
It is in line with Outspan’s business goal of enabling robust activities in the local dairy value chain through improved collection, preservation, distribution and off-taking of fresh milk produced by smallholder dairy farmers.
These and other raft of activities are taking the West African country an inch closer to attaining its dairy self-sufficiency goal of producing 1.7 billion litres of milk by 2024.
Nigeria has a cattle population of 20 million that produces 600 million litres per year against a consumption capacity of 1.3 billion tonnes of milk annually.
This forces the country to spend US$1.5 billion every year in dairy products importation to meet rising demand for milk and milk products.
The Regional Manager of ONL, Mr. Manish Khede said, “We will continue to support the local dairy value chain to ensure the country achieves self-sufficiency in milk production.
“We have a track record of working with local farmers to enhance their productivity and income levels while broadly enriching the agriculture value chain, in line with the government economic development agenda.”
Meanwhile, a representative of the CBN, Mr. Garba Aminu, emphasised during the commissioning ceremony the apex bank’s commitment to providing the necessary assistance to businesses and smallholder farmers in a bid to fast track the attainment of food self-sufficiency in the country.
Each milk collection center is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment that ensures the integrity of the raw milk produce.
Outspan also provides transport equipment including motorbikes and specially equipped tricycles that can effectively transport the raw milk.
The opening of the new milk collection centre comes on the heels of Arla Foods’ collaboration with diversified consumer goods company, Tolaram Group, in establishment of Danish-designed state-of-the-art commercial dairy farm in Kaduna State.
Construction of the dairy farm, which has since started, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The 200-hectare farm will house 400 im-ported dairy cows, modern milking parlour, advanced animal cooling technology and all other modern technology used in dairy farms today.
Once operational, it is expected to produce over 10 tonnes (10,000 litres) of milk per day, which will then be processed by Arla’s dairy plant in Kaduna State to supply locally produced dairy products to Nigerian consumers.
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