WASHINGTON: The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has lamented that Nigeria imports milk worth over $1.3 billion dollars annually to meet the shortfall occasioned by low production in the nation. Ogbeh disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at a media briefing to mark the forthcoming two-day retreat on Livestock and Dairy Development in Nigeria.
The minister, however, noted that “in line with the federal government’s goal of attaining self-sufficiency in the provision of animal protein, job creation and contributing optimally to the gross domestic product (GDP) the present administration is ready to embark on various agricultural programmes that would develop the nation’s livestock industry.”
These programmes, according him, include the establishment of ranches to be planted with high quality improved tropical grass and legume species, provision of irrigation for all year commercial fodder production to enhance the settlement of pastoralists, establishment of clusters of dairy farmers who would be equipped with milk collection facilities and capacity building programmes for livestock farmers, among others.
He lamented the huge import bill of milk and stated that the federal government was determined to intensify efforts at increasing livestock production along its value chains, adding that the ministry was ready to create enabling environments for potential investors to grow and develop the nation’s livestock industry to achieve self-sufficiency as well as become a net exporter to other West African countries.
The minister explained that the retreat with the theme “Setting an Agenda for Commercialising Livestock and Dairy Commodity Value Chain” is being organised by the ministry in collaboration with the African Business Roundtable to create an enabling environment to attract private sector investments for the development of the livestock and dairy sector in Nigeria, noting that this would generate employment and create wealth through the Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprise (LIFE) project of the ministry as well as improve contribution to foreign earnings and the GDP.
