FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Nigeria’s leading dairy company, has announced an all-time record of 40 tons (40,000 litres) daily fresh milk collection in the country through its Dairy Development Programme (DDP).
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Ben Langat, managing director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria, made the announcement on Monday as part of the company’s celebration of the World Milk Day 2020 in line with its grass to glass philosophy.
“We have been making steady progress in our commitment to the development of Nigeria’s dairy sector through our Dairy Development Programme and our efforts are yielding good results as we continue to keep our promise of providing nourishing dairy nutrition to millions of Nigerians,” he said.
As the first dairy company to collect over 40,000 litres of fresh milk per day from local farmers, FrieslandCampina WAMCO has taken its thriving DDP, which it started with pastoralists in local communities in Oyo State, and replicated it across other states, according to Ore Famurewa, executive director, corporate affairs, FrieslandCampina WAMCO.“In addition to Oyo State where we started the Dairy Development Programme 10 years ago, we have expanded our investments and operations to Ogun, Osun, Kwara and Niger states, especially in the last three years and have networked over 7,000 dairy farmers,” she saidFamurewa said the dairy maker remained committed to the goals of sustainable development, including poverty reduction, women empowerment and beyond as envisioned by the Federal Government.
“Our crossbreeding programme is yielding good results with over 400 F1 cows born to farms of local dairy farmers. We have developed dairy farms feeds to ensure all year round pasture for the cows and continued with our biannual Farmer2Farmer programme, facilitated by Dutch dairy experts, ” she further said.
Under its Dairy Development Programme, FrieslandCampina WAMCO has transformed the mindset, productivity and livelihood of both male and female dairy farmers across five states where it operates the DDP.
In its response to the scourge of the COVID-19 global pandemic, especially among its DDP volunteers and extension workers, FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s mitigation strategy has been to consistently create awareness about the pandemic and what to do.
“We have sensitised our farmers on the hazards and symptoms of the coronavirus disease, what to do to keep safe and healthy, and the fact that it is a personal responsibility to protect themselves and family against the virus,” explained John Adekunle , DDP manager, FrieslandCampina WAMCO.
A winner of several awards in health and safety management, FrieslandCampina WAMCO has rolled out COVID-19 safety measures across its grass to glass process, providing face masks to staff and farmers, enforcing the washing of hands at various milk collection centres, taking body temperature checks and practicing social distancing.
According to Langat, FrieslandCampina WAMCO is taking local milk sourcing to the next level. “We are currently expanding our DDP footprints by intensifying capacity building and constructing more milk collection centres, with the latest in Niger and Kwara states. A major investment is our new ultra-modern yogurt plant specific for raw milk utilization,” he said.
“We have set up farmer cooperatives and initiated partnerships with non-profit organisations and academic institutions including 2Scale/IFDC, National Animal Production Research Institute, to accelerate dairy development in Nigeria,” Langat added.
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