Arla–Foods, makers of Dano–Milk, has announced that it will build a state-of-the-art commercial dairy farm in Northern Nigeria ; where it plans to train and support upto 1,000–local–dairy–farmers ; as part of its long-term commitment to developing the Nigerian–dairy–sector.
The 200-hectare farm, scheduled to open in 2022,;will have housing for 400 dairy cows, modern milking parlours and technology, grasslands and living facilities for 25 employees.
The firm said the farm is expected to produce over 10-tonnes of milk-per-day to supply locally-produced-dairy products to Nigerian-consumers.
Need for dairy as a nutritious food
Managing Director, Arla Foods, Peder Pedersen said; “there was a great need for nutritious food and dairy products to satisfy the growing demand from Nigeria’s fast-growing population.”
“This requires a complementary approach where imported food is crucial to ensuring food-security while also supporting the government’s long-term agricultural transformation plan to build a sustainable dairy sector in Nigeria,” Pedersen said.
In 2019 Arla scaled up its commitment to developing a sustainable-dairy-sector in Nigeria with a new public-private-partnership with the Kaduna-State-government.
It is the first of its size and offers 1,000 nomadic dairy farmers permanent farmlands. Arla is the commercial partner that will purchase, collect, process and bring the local milk to market.