A complementary dairy development program takes part in the DAIRYCHAIN stakeholders meeting in Nigeria

A stakeholders meeting was held at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife on 1st February, 2014. During the meeting a presentation titled, “Dairy Development Program in Nigeria” was made by Mr. Mohammed Zailani, Manager, Dairy Public- Private Partnership 2SCALE Project.

The presentation summerised the activities by the 2SCALE projectwhose aim is to facilitate dairy development in Nigeria through the mobilization of smallholder dairy units, primarily the Fulani Milk Producers (FMPs) that contribute more than 90% of the total milk produced in Nigeria.

Activities of the 2SCALE project have been geared towards poverty alleviation and income security of the FMPs through building institutional capacity and self-organization, enabling them to become partners in coordinated dairy value chain (DVC) in the advancement of smallholder dairy development in Nigeria.

Other key stakeholders in this dairy development agenda include Friesland-Campina-WAMCO (FCW), and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, under the Dairy Transformation Agenda (DTA). Part of the policy of the DTA is to evolve strategies to boost the contribution of indigenous stocks to national dairy development and ultimately, to reduce its dependence on milk imports.

Outline of Mr Zailani’s presentation included quantityand quality of milk collected fromdifferent locations in Nigeria in 2013, Sensitization and mobilization of the FMPs, Overview of interventions and innovations including organization and extension, herd health program, feed supplementation,cross-breeding; and Pilot Dairy Farm and action research.

According to Mr. Zailani, five Milk Collection Centers (MCCs) have been constructed as at 2013 in five different FMP communities, out of which three MCCs were fully operational, while two are just coming up. These MCCs are located at Fashola, Alaga, Budo Musa, Maya and Iseyin, respectively, in Oyo State, south-western Nigeria.

Data presented by Mr Zailani showed that the total milk collected in 2013 from Shonga, Fashola and Alaga was about 622,000, 590,000 and 450,000 litres, respectively. Additionally, about 100 FMPs from this area were mobilized and put through refresher courses. The trainings related to the operations and functions of the MCCs which was critical in helping them gain their confidence and make them stakeholders and partners of the dairy development project.

Apart from establishing the MCCs, three pilot dairy demonstration farms were developed at Alaga, Bale and Maya in Oyo State, south-western Nigeria, to showcase stall-feeding and best practices in smallholder dairy management. This was accompanied by 2 demonstration sites for improved pasture for pigeon pea and bracharia grass. These units also facilitated the training of potential smallholder farmers who were not FMPs on the basics of smallholder dairy production and management with a follow-up training on artificial insemination. In addition, two locations were identified for dry season feed conservation and demonstration units with necessary equipment such as grass crushers and hammer mills to train smallholder dairy farmers.

Challenges

The main challenges encountered by the 2SCALE project included:

1. Poor institutional support – extension services
2. Inadequate strategic infrastructure – water, road
3. Dry season feeding
4. Cost of operations (logistics)
5. Time of trust building with FMPs
6. Logistics in payment for milk collected at MCCs

Next Steps

In order to achieve sustainable and profitable smallholder dairy systems the following steps were deemed necessary:

1. Developing business models smallholder dairy operation, including dry season feed supplementation
2. Follow-up activities for the trained smallholder farmers to start dairy business enterprises,
3. Crossbreeding at pilot dairy sites The modus operandi of the 2SCALE project is illustrated in Figure 1 and 2.

Figure1 shows the formation of dairy value chain clusters around milk collection centres in multiple locations (e.g. Alaga, Budo-Musa and Bale) in Nigeria. All the established milk collection centres are connected to Friesland- Campina-WAMCO. This arrangement has several advantages, including efficient DVC development that connects all actors and support systems along the DVC, mobilization of FMPs in the development of the DVC, opportunities for intervention programmes for community development of the FMPs by the Government, opportunities for DVC mapping and analysis.

Figure 2 illustrates a scheme for linking pastoralists to Friesland-Campina-WAMCO through milk collection centres. It shows the connection between individual producers who are enlisted as members of dairy clusters (cooperative) built around milk collection centres that feed into the FCW that produces multiple dairy products for consumers. In return and as part of a feedback mechanism, the FCW facilitates input supply (veterinary drugs, feeds, etc) and support services to FMPs through the dairy clusters or cooperatives.

Some advantages in this arrangement include mutual benefits arising from steady supply of milk by the dairy clusters to the FCW, who in turn facilitates access to key inputs and support services. The model, when properly run, will provide a template for a strategy for national d airy development in Nigeria.