US Mission, Ikun Dairy Farm target 10,000 litres daily milk production in Nigeria

As part of its commitment to help grow and diversify the Nigerian economy, the United States Mission in Nigeria has partnered with the Ikun Dairy Farm to ramp up local milk production to about 10,000 litres, using cows from the United States of America (USA).

The US announced via its Twitter handle on Monday, where it stated that “U. S. Dairy Milk Cows in Ekiti State, Ikun Dairy Farm plans to reach 10,000 litres of milk daily with cows from the USA.

A great collaboration with Consulate Lagos that will help Nigeria grow and diversify its economy.”

Nigeria currently produces 700,000 metric tons (MT) of dairy products annually but demand stands at 1.3 million MT, according to the Federal Ministry of Agriculture. This means there is a shortfall of 600,000 MT.

Data also shows that Nigeria accounts for 13 percent of West Africa’s milk production and 0.01 percent of the global milk production. Experts believe that this move will boost productivity and sustainability in Nigeria’s dairy sector and also improve the activities of producers of dairy consumables.

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According to the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), the Ikun Dairy Farm, located in Ikun-Ekiti, Moba local government area was established about 40 years ago and has about 1,000 hectares of land area focused on dairy activities.

Earlier in 2019, Ekiti State government partnered with Promasidor Nigeria Limited, the producer of Cowbell to improve its backward integration activities in dairy production. Promasidor invested $5 million which was to be used to purchase equipment and also acquire cattle, with the expectation that it would produce up to 10,000 litres of milk per day at full capacity.

Bernard Langat, managing director, Friesland Campina, said during a business webinar that about 95 percent of cattle herds in Nigeria are local indigenous breeds with an average milk supply of two litres per day from each cow which is not enough for significant dairy production, as a result, imported milk powder accounts for about 75 percent of raw materials used by Nigeria’s dairy industry to process dairy products.