A new Milk Collection Center has been opened by Nestlé Nigeria at the Ladugga Grazing Reserve in Kachia Local Council, Kaduna State.
This achievement increases the Ladduga Grazing Reserve’s milk collection and cooling capacity of Nestlé’s Dairy Development Program to 3000trs/day.
In order to increase the productivity of the local dairy industry in Nigeria, Nestlé is executing a 5-year dairy development initiative in collaboration with CBI Innovations Limited, a social company. This effort is supported by the International Fertilizer Development Center (IFDC-2CALE).
Victoria Uwadoka, the Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager for Nestlé Nigeria, made the following remarks during the inaugural ceremony: “We are proud of the progress we have made since the first engagement with the Kaduna State Ministry of Agriculture, which culminated in the start of operations in Ladugga Grazing Reserve in 2021.”
“Nestlé Nigeria’s dairy project is built on three pillars: Better Feed and Fodder, Quality Milk Products and Resilient Communities. We have made significant progress on these three pillars and the opening of this Milk Collection and Cooling Centre will help us consolidate on this progress which has yielded increase in milk volumes month on month.”
With the opening of this facility, we may safely raise the 1,396L/day we are currently collecting in Ladduga due to the enhanced collection and chilling capacity.
“The achievement of milk volumes in Nestle’s dairy development project is made possible by the engagement and empowerment of 77 cooperatives and 31 aggregators in the Ladugga Grazing Reserve community. ”
“The project has also made significant investments in improving herd health, infrastructure including provision of water and the establishment of cool chain infrastructure.”
The Milk Collection Center in Kaduna State was started by Nestlé and CBI Innovations Limited, which will accelerate investment in the dairy sector and empower pastoralists as well as smallholder farmers in the dairy value chain. The Milk Collection Center was inaugurated by the Commissioner for Agriculture, Kaduna State, Malam Ibrahim Hassaini, who was represented at the event by the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Manisibi Mohammed Kabiru.
“Also, the timely intervention of the project will go a long way to support the state’s potential to utilise livestock production merits, improve nomadic standard of living, foster the coexistence between the farmers and herders and help to mitigate recurrent crisis.”
Victoria underlined Nestlé’s commitment to helping Nigeria’s dairy industry grow by investing in infrastructural development, farmer capacity building, and cutting-edge technology to give pastoralists sustainable routes to market.
