By: Our Correspondent.

On Tuesday December 6, 2022, the Honourable Commissioner for Agriculture, Kaduna State - Malam Ibrahim Hassaini inaugurated Nestlé Nigeria Milk Collection Center at the Ladugga Grazing Reserve in Kachia LGA, Kaduna State. 

This milestone brings the milk collection and cooling capacity of Nestlé’s Dairy Development Program to 3000trs/day in Ladduga grazing reserve.

Nestlé, in partnership with CBI Innovations Limited, a social enterprise, is implementing a 5-year dairy development project that aggregates smallholder diary producers to improve the productivity of the local dairy industry in Nigeria, supported by International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC-2CALE).

In her address at the opening ceremony, Victoria Uwadoka, the Corporate Communications and Public Affairs Manager, Nestlé Nigeria said, “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 here in Ladugga Grazing Reserve in 2021.”

“Nestlé Nigeria’s dairy project is built on 3 pillars: Better Feed and Fodder, Quality Milk Products and Resilient communities. We have made significant progress on these 3 pillars  and the opening of this Milk Collection and Cooling Centre will help us consolidate on this progress which has yielded year on year increase in milk volumes month on month. We can safely increase the 1,396L/day we are currently collecting in Ladduga, thanks to the increased collection and chilling capacity with the launch of this facility today.”

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, improving infrastructure including provision of water and the establishment of cool chain infrastructure.

Speaking at the inauguration, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Agriculture, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary Alhaji Manisibi Mohammed Kabiru thanked Nestlé and CBI Innovations Limited “For initiating this laudable Milk Collection Centre in Kaduna State to accelerate investment in the dairy sector of the state and to empower pastoralists and smallholder farmers in the dairy value chain. 

Also, the timely intervention of the project will go a long way to support the State’s potential to utilize livestock production merits, improve nomadic standard of living, foster the coexistence between the farmers and herders and help to mitigate recurrent crisis.” 

Victoria reaffirmed Nestlé’s commitment to contribute to the development of the dairy sector in Nigeria through investments in farmer capacity building, infrastructure improvement and novel technology to create sustainable routes to market for the pastoralists. 

To reach more pastoralists, Nestlé has started the installation of solar powered “Milk Banks” within 300KM radius of the communities where the pastoralists move to in search of fodder and water. One is already installed at Crossing, near the Ladduga Grazing Reserve. The technology, equipped with a single-phase compressor to achieve low power consumption to store and chill the milk collected at source, is the first of its kind in Nigeria.

“We will continue to scale up our milk collection efforts significantly by increasing our footprint, leveraging our Milk Banks,” Victoria Said. 

“We are pleased with the work that our implementation partner, CBI Innovations Limited is doing on the ground to deepen and accelerate an inclusive business model within the project. We will continue to work with the Kaduna State Government and all stakeholders towards achieving Nestlé’s purpose of unlocking the power of food to enhance quality of life for everyone, today and for future generations.” she added