Dairy giant FrieslandCampina WAMCO has announced the launch of a documentary magazine titled, “Dairy4Growth Nigeria: Pathways for Change,” while lauding achievements of the Project and its impact on the country’s dairy sector.
The magazine was unveiled at the FrieslandCampina FDOV Technical Conference, which showcased knowledge gained during five years of work on Dairy4Growth Nigeria, a project aimed at proffering solutions to challenges in the dairy industry, providing home-grown scalable solutions and transitioning Nigeria’s dairy for commercial success.
Explaining this, Ore Famurewa, Executive Director Corporate Affairs, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, said “The Dairy4Growth Nigeria Project is an example of international public-private partnership to build sustainable socio-economic structures. It is funded by the Dutch Government with partnership from Royal FrieslandCampina, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria, International Fertilizer Development Center, Wageningen University and Research, and Bles Dairies Consultancy.
“In the course of its implementation and in addition to tangible changes in the dairy sector, the Dairy4Growth Nigeria Project produced relevant technical knowledge that is very useful for the Nigerian dairy sector and the pathways of change mobilised by the Project, provides valuable lessons for establishing practical solutions and implementation for a sustainable dairy chain. To fully scale the benefit of this Project, we have launched this documentary magazine to share with the broader dairy development community,” Famurewa said.
Ben Langat, Managing Director, FrieslandCampina Sub-Sahara Africa Cluster said, “As the Dairy4Growth Nigeria Project wraps up, we are proud to see that the innovations from the Project will not only continue in use, but also grow and be scaled up. As the first multinational dairy company to champion backward integration in Nigeria, we hope to inspire others to contribute to the sustainable development of the dairy sector.
“The Project has successfully introduced the Dairy Zone model, which is based on resource sharing, collaboration and exchanges. Farms naturally need time to develop and grow, but collaborative working and bulk purchasing helps to foster collective action. These simple but meaningful arrangements combined with enhanced infrastructure, training and extension support, as well as the introduction of feed and fodder production, have significantly contributed to increasing the production volume of quality milk,” Langat said.
In his keynote address, the Honourable Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Mohammed Abubakar, called on dairy experts to offer solutions on how to accelerate growth across the dairy value chain and transition it to a profitable economic sector.
According to the Minister, “the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development is determined to increase food security in Nigeria and employment along commodity value chains; it is our goal to strengthen Nigeria’s self-sufficiency and we shall not relent in creating enabling environment and partnerships to achieve this.
“I congratulate FrieslandCampina WAMCO on yet another milestone recorded in developing sustainable local sourcing of milk. Your company has continued to make steady progress in strengthening the dairy value chain in Nigeria with key investment that target local dairy communities. I am looking forward to seeing your organisation scale up the learnings from the Dairy4Growth Nigeria” Abubakar said.
The Technical Conference attracted key dairy experts in Nigeria as well as small holder and commercial dairy farmers, who discussed critical topics including pasture development, crossbreeding, animal health and capacity building.
Dairy4Growth Nigeria Project was funded by the Facility for Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Food Security (FDOV) a programme for public-private partnerships by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO).
FrieslandCampina WAMCO is gearing up to replicate the successes and learnings of the Dairy4Growth Nigeria Project in the northern states with the support of 2Scale programme. Furthermore, drawing on its experience with the Dairy Development and FDOV Programme, FrieslandCampina WAMCO has joined forces with expert partners to drive two key initiatives; the Center for Nigerian Dutch Dairy Development (CNDDD) and the Value4Dairy – a consortium of international business partner organisations focused on establishing critical building blocks for sustainable dairy in Nigeria like grassland management, breeding and animal nutrition.
Ore Famurewa
Executive Director, Corporate Affairs
December 2, 2021
FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC
FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC has been a necessary part of most Nigerian homes since 1954 through its iconic brand Peak Milk. We are a multinational manufacturing company and an affiliate of Royal FrieslandCampina of The Netherlands, one of the largest dairy cooperatives in the world. We are the makers of Peak, Three Crowns, Coast, Olympic and Nunu brands of milk in Nigeria. Guided by an inspiring mission – Nourishing Nigeria with quality dairy nutrition – we are unwavering in the provision of quality, nutritious milk products to Nigerians. To further increase its local content and in support of Federal Government’s initiative to grow the Agriculture sector, FrieslandCampina WAMCO pioneered Dairy Development in August 2010 in Nigeria. This is gradually developing into a full national program as the Company is dedicated to making the initiative a success by ensuring the transfer of technology know-how on milk production to Nigerian farmers. With over 10,000 dairy farmers in the supply chain, the Company plans to further train and consult with more farmers with the support of the Government and other key partners.
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