By Cyber Era NG Special Correspondent
The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has held a Sensitization Workshop on Dairy Development for Dairy Entrepreneurs/farmers of Kwara State, representing the North Central after hosting a similar one in Kano, representing the North West.
A statement sighted by Cyber Era NG, inked by Raymond Onyenezi Ogbu, on behalf of the Head Public Relations and Protocol Unit of NOTAP, says while declaring the event open in Ilorin, the Kwara State Capital, the Director-General of NOTAP, Dr. DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim, represented by the Director Consultancy Services of NOTAP, Dr. Adamu Tandama said that Nigeria was blessed with high number of cattle but due to the nomadic way of life, Nigerian Cows yielded small quantity of milk. The situation he said was further compounded by poor and inadequate knowledge on the modern techniques of cow breeding.
Dr. Ibrahim said that Vietnam and Netherlands that were highest producers of milk might not have the number of Cows Nigeria had but they applied the global best practices in cattle breeding to ensure high milk yield. He added that technology was what ruled the world and for Dairy entrepreneurs to develop their business to the point of producing enough milk for the Nigerian market, they must adopt the modern methods of ranching, breeding and cow milking.
The NOTAP Director-General noted that Cows that produced enough milk were ranched in a center where they were well fed with adequate hygiene assured. He advised the Dairy entrepreneurs to form cooperative societies and groups as history had shown that the level of success for individual Dairy entrepreneurs/farmers was far less than when they formed groups.
He further stated that the reason for the workshop was to sensitize Dairy farmers on the best global practices in Dairy production as well as introduce them to the use of high breed Cows for Dairy business that were higher in milk yield than the local Cows that we had in the country.
Dr. Ibrahim further stated that in order to ensure technology transfer and global best practices in Dairy production, the Office in 2013 opened partnership with Friesland Campina WAMCO who established mini milk collection centers in Ibadan, Oyo State. He added that the company built a settlement for the Fulani herders, ranched their Cows and introduced them to the modern methods of growing Cows and milking processes which had turned to a lucrative business for even the non Fulani’s around the locality.
He said the project was introduced as a result of NOTAP’s collaboration with Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria Plc in order to add local content to milk produced in Nigeria and also ensure availability of milk for our teeming population.
During the technical session, the participants were introduced to the key elements of entrepreneurship which will be a guide for high success rate in their businesses as well as the modern techniques in product marketing. The participants were taught that marketing of products was essential aspect of business as goods produced without buyers, especially perishables, will put the entrepreneur out of business through losses.
