In a bid to improve food security in the country, Nigeria has begun talks with one of the world’s largest dairy companies, Arla Foods, on the development of the dairy sector in Nigeria.
The senior technical adviser to the minister of agriculture, Dr Andrew Kwasari, stated during a tour to Arla Foods diary farms in Denmark that a partnership with Arla, and knowledge sharing, will help empower Nigerian farmers who face multiple challenges with logistics, infrastructure, organisation, quality and productivity.
“We could definitely see Arla as a partner to help build a sustainable dairy industry in Nigeria from the very beginning based on its globally proven concept of ‘dairy enterprise of the farmers, for the farmers, by the farmers.’”
The senior vice president and head of Arla Foods for sub-Saharan Africa, Steen Hadsbjerg, stated that Nigeria is key to Arla’s ability to sell its farm owners’ milk in West Africa in the future.
“We understand that developing the Nigerian local dairy industry to create a sustainable value chain that contributes to food security, local jobs and prosperity are important issues for the government. The Nigerian government welcomes companies and initiative that will help this development,” he said.
He noted that the visit would help in understanding the challenges in developing a sustainable dairy sector in Nigeria and how Arla can most effectively contribute to the solution.
Nigeria spends $1.3 billion dollars on dairy imports. The Nigerian government’s target is to double the milk production over the next three to four years so as to meet up with domestic consumption and export.
