Nigeria spends $5bn annually on importation of dairy products – Minister

Heineken Lokpobiri, Minister of State for Agriculture has revealed that Nigeria spends $5 billion annually for importation of dairy products, even as he lamented that the country currently has less than 19 million cows.

The Minister also disclosed that nine states of the Federation have donated a total of 45,000 hectares of land for the creation of ranches.

He also pointed out the Federal Government will import semen from Europe for female cows in the country to boost productivity.

Lokpobiri who appeared at a one-day Senate public hearing on the perennial conflicts between cattle herdsmen and farmers, explained that armed herdsmen are from Chad, Niger, Mali, Mauritania and other West African countries.

“There is this huge opportunity in this sector. We $1.3billion on importing powdered milk alone. For dairy products, milk products we spend as much as $5 billion a year.

“Mr President has directed that we should liaise with state governments because the Federal Government alone cannot do it. And we have contacted 19 states governors and nine states have already donated 5,000 hectares each for us to start the creation of these ranches.

“We had in the past about 415 grazing reserves. Out of that about 144 were gazetted and the rest not gazetted. Those grazing routes, most of them no longer exist. They have been encroached upon and grazing reserves without grasses is useless”, he said.

He therefore expressed support for ranching, as against grazing reserve routes.

BusinessDay reports that while ranches are large expanse of land where cattle are fed, reared and live permanently, grazing reserves are dedicated routes that cut across different states reserved for the movement and feeding of cattle.

According to the Minister, Nigerian cows produce an average of 1 litre of milk per day, as opposed to cows in Brazil and Saudi Arabia that produce between 30 to 40 litres daily.

This, he said, will be addressed by establishing ranches which ensures that cows are restricted to one place and not made to trek hundreds of kilometres from the North to the South.

He said other facilities in the ranches will include schools, boreholes, small dams, veterinary services and other amenities.

On the importation of semen, he said: “We are thinking about how to increase the productivity in Nigerian cows. Most of the female cows out of the less than 19 million we have cannot conceive because of the long movement from one area to the other. So, we have resolved to import semen from Europe so that we can do artificial insemination so as to breed the productivity of cows. This is something that is done globally”.

While Paddy Njoku, Edward Ojege who spoke on behalf of Ohaneze Ndigbo and Tiv farmers respectively threw their weight behind the minister, opposing grazing reserve routes, Chairman of the Committee, Abdullahi Adamu, insisted that: “Nobody can stop government from acquiring land anywhere. If anybody thinks he is violent, government has monopoly of violence”.

Ojege alleged that six of the 14 local government areas in Benue State are currently being occupied by herdsmen.

But speaking on behalf of Miyetti Allah, an umbrella body of Fulani herdsmen, its National Legal Adviser Mohammed Tukur advocated for the creation of Ministry of Livestock as well as supported the establishment of grazing reserves.

He called on the Federal Government to provide funding for grazing reserves development from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) intervention funds, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) funds and support from technical financial and development partners like the World Bank, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), European Union (EUy, international Fund for Agricultural Development (lFAD) and others.

OWEDE AGBAJILEKE