Stage of Innovation: Proof of Concept (You have created something to show the innovation can work)

Problem: Nigeria’s annual milk production is estimated at 500,000 tons while the annual local demand for milk stands at an average of 1.7m tons, with the shortfall imported into the country. Nigeria’s cattle rearing sector has met with numerous challenges including a lack of feed, water, and poor rearing techniques. The CBN has also led efforts to encourage foreign milk manufacturers to source produce in Nigeria. Milk manufacturers including Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria; Chi, and TG Arla Dairy Products have started to engage with state governments and local cattle farmers to partner with them to source milk locally for production. In September 2019, the Kaduna state government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Arla Foods International, a Denmark-based milk production company, to source milk locally from its cattle farmers. Now operational, the aim of the project is to create 50,000 jobs. Governor Nasir el-Rufai of Kaduna said the investment in the livestock sector would help to increase production among nomadic herdsmen. “Our hope is that what we started with Arla leads to the development of the grazing reserve in Kubau local government; and we want to develop jointly with them. [We] will show the itinerant nomadic herdsmen that it is possible to engage in modern livestock production without having to go up and down the country,” he said. In November 2019, the Niger State government signed an MOU with Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria to provide 10,000 hectares of land at the Bobi Grazing Reserve for milk production. Despite the deals, progress has been slow. The challenge of meeting targets by local farmers – who lack the equipment and expertise of industrial-scale foreign producers despite CBN support – and the unwillingness of milk manufacturers to source milk from local production led to the lifting of restrictions for some companies by the CBN in February 2020. The CBN asked commercial banks to start accepting Form M again from Nestlé Nigeria, Friesland Campina, HBC Chi, Promasidor Nigeria, TG Arla Dairy Products and Integrated Dairies Limited. The bank stated that the decision to lift the ban was due to the failure of its efforts at stimulating the local production of milk. Despite the failure to reach its ambitious target, efforts continue. It said that the aim was to increase milk production in the country to 550,000 tons within the next 12 months. Citizens have been left frustrated by the experiment with backward integration. Though there is again enough milk supply in the country, prices continue to rise, said Jane Frances Onuoha, a young Nigerian citizen. “It is devastating that the price of milk in Nigeria is increasing on a daily basis,” she lamented. “Milk is one of the essential dairy products and it should not be expensive. We have a lot of cattle in Nigeria. So why should the price of milk always increase?”

Unique Selling Point: The DDP enables dairy farmers to run their businesses optimally as well as raise the quality and quantity of their dairy production. This is done through knowledge-sharing, training courses, and exchange program with a number of partners. Considering the peculiarity of the dairy business, milk production goes beyond volume, but revolves around the lifestyle of the farmers, health of animals, and quality of milk. To address the gaps in production, Friesland Campina WAMCO, commenced a multi-billion-naira Dairy Development Program (DDP) in 2010, to backwardly integrate and empower farmers for sustainable supply and development of the dairy sector. For some communities across Oyo State that depend on the money that dairy producers pay farmers, there is motivation to maintain the standard requirements rather than depend on the open market for sale. According to Managing Director, Friesland Campina WAMCO, Ben Langat, “Our Dairy Development Program has supported four master farms where dairy projects are currently running and there are 16 more under development. “The DDP has impacted over 100,000 people from raw milk supplies to the creation of job opportunities to host communities, for example – transporters, feed, veterinary supplies, among others. This has engendered business development around the milk collection centers.” For Hawwaa and Umu Abdullahi, both wives and mothers, before the DDP commenced in Iseyin land, Oyo State, they were both local cheese sellers without hygienic means of extending the shelf life of the cheese they both ate and sold for sustenance. Reflecting on what had changed since the advent of WAMCO’s DDP, Hawwaa told this writer, “My profit has improved. Every day after the cow is milked, we go and deliver the milk to the collection centers, and the company (Friesland Campina WAMCO) pays us money very promptly.” Leveraging on technology we are expanding the scope of reach beyond Southwestern Nigeria to the entire country and to other African Countries. Our mobile app is also user friendly with various language options such as English, Hausa, Yoruba Fulfulde, Arabic and Swahili. Farmers can have direct access to services providers and can easily trace the closest milk collection center to them. While getting instant payment this intervention would boost milk production from 550,000 tons to 1,500,000 tons very critical component is assess to high quality sperm for artificial insemination that would increase daily yield from 15 liter per cow to 30 liter per cow.