BusinessDay 11 Dec 2017

34 BUSINESS
C002D5556 Monday 11 December 2017
REAL SECTOR WATCH
In association with
FrieslandCampina WAMCO in aggressive
expansion to close 700m-litre milk gap
ODINAKA ANUDU
Nigeria’s dairy maker
FrieslandCampina
W A M C O i s
aggressively
expanding its operations to
close the demand-supply gap
in the milk industry, which
currently stands at 700 million
litres per annum.
Statistics published by Dairy
Chain in 2014 put the annual
demand of milk in Nigeria at
1.1 billion litres, with estimated
annual production around 400
million litres while demandsupply
gap stands at 700m litres.
The dairy maker has already
set up five milk plants at Fasola,
Maya, Saki, Alaga and Iseyin
communities, all in Oyo State,
getting raw milk from local
farmers for onward processing at
the factory. FrieslandCampina
WAMCO, producer of Peak and
Three Crowns milk, sees the gap
as an opportunity.
“There is clearly an
opportunity here, for us as
a leading dairy nutrition
company and for Nigerian dairy
farmers to benefit as they bridge
this sizeable gap,” said Ben
Langat, managing director of
FrieslandCampina WAMCO, at
the Dairy Farmers’ Day held at
Iseyin , Oyo State, last Thursday.
“As a company, we will
continue lead in steering
economic solutions in the dairy
sector and will continue to play
a key role in the on-going efforts
to improve and maximise the
potentials of dairy farming in
Nigeria,” Langat said.
He stated that Dairy Farmers’
Day, first of its kind in the
country, was meant to celebrate
farmers across the communities
in Oyo State where the Dairy
Development Programme
(DDP) was currently being
implemented, while also
facilitating knowledge exchange
…Gets FG’s commendation for hosting first Dairy Farmers’ Day
L-R: Moyo Ajekigbe, chairman, FrieslandCampina WAMCO; Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, governor of Kebbi State,
and Ben Langat, managing director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, at the first Dairy Farmers’ Day celebration
organised by FrieslandCampina WAMCO recently in Iseyin, Oyo State
and experiential learning
between local dairy farmers
and dairy experts from within
and outside Nigeria.
Robert Petri, ambassador of
the Netherlands to Nigeria, said:
“Dairy farming is having a social
impact on the people and I am
happy that we are part of this
indirectly.”
Petri said he could clearly see
that difference could be made
through agriculture, stating that
agriculture was more important
than oil in today’s Nigeria. He
stressed that his country would
like to partner with Nigeria on
agriculture and trade.
On his part, Audu Ogbeh,
minister of agriculture and rural
development, applauded the
efforts of FrieslandCampina
WAMCO in successfully hosting
Nigeria’s first Dairy Farmers’
Day programme in Oyo.
“Let me reiterate the Federal
Government’s commitment to
the success of FrieslandCampina
WAMCO’s DDP which has taken
a firm root in Oyo State and is
spreading to other parts of the
country,” Ogbeh said.
Five dairy farmers emerged
winners from the five LGAs
where the DDP has produced
improvements in local milk
sourcing, dairy farming
standards, improved business
model and farmers’ livelihood.
Each winner of the award for
good dairy farming practises
got a brand new motorbike,
which was presented by Moyo
Ajekigbe, chairman, board of
directors of FrieslandCampina
WAMCO. The winners are
Adamu Aliu Poku of Fashola
LGA, Kadade Amodu (Alaga
LGA), Mohammed Osomo
(Iseyin LGA), Amuda
Yusuff Aliu (Maya LGA) and
Abdukareem Jubril (Saki
LGA).
Under its Farmer2Farmer
P r o g r a m m e ,
FrieslandCampina WAMCO
invited Dutch farmers to help
local dairy farmers improve
productivity of their cows.
Herman Bakhius, one of
the two farmers from the
Netherlands, said he was in
Nigeria to raise the capacity of
Oyo farmers and teach them
new ways of increasing raw milk
productivity.
SON warns motorists
against using
retreaded tyres
SIKIRAT SHEHU, Ilorin
Standard Organisation of
Nigeria (SON) has warned
motorists to desist from
using re-treaded tires on
their vehicles, as such expired tires
are dangerous and can lead to
serious accidents.
Sunday Yashim, SON state
coordinator in Kwara State, gave
the warning in Ilorin while briefing
newsmen on the danger of using
retreaded tires. He expressed concern
at the rate at Nigerians patronise
retreaded and expired tires.
Yashim said that two men that
were involved in illegal retreading of
tires were apprehended by the men
of the Nigerian Security and Civil
Defense Corps (NSCDC), Ilorin and
handed to SON.
“We are working in collaboration
with the Nigerian Security and
Civil Defense Corps to monitor
and investigate hideouts of illegal
retreading of tires in Ilorin,” Yashim
said. He warned motorists to be
careful of buying tyres because
some of them that appear new on
display may be used and retreaded
ones. “Such tyres are also referred
to as ‘life in danger’ products. Using
retreaded is very dangerous.
Motorists have to be wary of
the kind of tyres they buy because
they will look like new and very
difficult to detect. “Based on the
information we gathered, two
locations were identified, where
tyres are being retreaded illegally
here in Ilorin.
“The first culprit, Abdulrazaq
was caught retreading tyres used
by commercial vehicles and was
apprehended by NSCDC on
October 1st, 2017 at Agaka area
Ilorin and was handed over to us,”
Yashim stated.
According to SON coordinator,
during interrogation, the accused
confessed that he learnt the illegal
trade in Benin Republic.
“The accused said that bad
tires were usually brought to him
by drivers, mainly commercial
drivers for retreading,” the SON
coordinator said.