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FrieslandCampina WAMCO lauds ‘Dairy4Growth Nigeria’ Project, launches documentary magazine

FrieslandCampina WAMCO lauds ‘Dairy4Growth Nigeria’ Project, launches documentary magazine

FrieslandCampina WAMCO, dairy giant 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.

Dairy Development Director, Royal FrieslandCampina, Yvonne vanderVorst; General Counsel and Global Director Legal and Business Conduct, Royal FrieslandCampina, Marieke Spenkelink; Director, Veterinary Services, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Peter Umanah; Executive Director Corporate Affairs, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Ore Famurewa and Dairy Development Director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Joel Ariori; at the FrieslandCampina FDOV Technical Conference themed ‘Dairy4Growth Nigeria’ held in Ibadan, Oyo State, Thursday, December 2, 2021

 

“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.

Read also: FrieslandCampina builds mobile yoghurt plant for Nigeria

“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, Mohammed Abubakar, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, 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.

Dean, Faculty of Agriculture, Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife, Prof. Akinloye Farinde; General Manager, Dairy Development, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Adekunle Olayiwola; Corporate Director, Dairy Development & Milkstreams Royal FrieslandCampina, Jeroen Elfers; Director Consultancy Services, National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) Adamu Tandama; Director Dairy Development, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Joel Ariori; at the FrieslandCampina FDOV Technical Conference themed ‘Dairy4Growth Nigeria’ held in Ibadan, Oyo State, Thursday, December 2, 2021

 

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.