Arla Foods has inaugurated a facility in Kaduna State, Nigeria, which is on track to underpin the European dairy cooperative Arla Foods’ long-term commitment in Nigeria. Training sessions for local farmers and industry-wide knowledge sharing will also help accelerate the industry in the nation, the company reveals.

The need to develop the local dairy industry is pivotal as Nigeria has one of the world’s fastest-growing populations and is projected to nearly double by 2050, from approximately  220 million to 400 million, according to UN projections.

Such a steep population boom will put pressure on food systems to deliver affordable, nutritious food as local dairy production only covers about 40% of the current demand of 1.45 billion liters of milk per year, Arla flags.

“With some expecting it to become the second-most populous country in the world, and Lagos the most populous city in the world, by 2100, all eyes are on Nigeria at the moment,” says Simon Stevens, executive VP and head of Arla’s international business.

“While there of course is a business opportunity for us, our activities in Nigeria are focused on sharing our agricultural and production expertise in collaboration with local partners to secure access to affordable nutrition for the growing population. And the farm very clearly solidifies our continued commitment to this,” he continues.

Third pillar
Establishing this new farm has strengthened the company’s commitment to developing the dairy sector in Nigeria.

The farm is the third pillar of Arla’s commitment and it both builds on top of and taps into the targets of the other two. The first step was The Milky Way Partnership, a public-private partnership Arla established in 2016.

More than 4,200 local farmers participated in the training sessions and have seen a 200% increase in their income.

Arla further expanded its commitment to developing a sustainable local dairy sector in Nigeria in 2019 by partnering with the Kaduna State government to establish the Damau Household Milk Farm. 

This 8,200-hectare ranch project aims to settle 1,000 nomadic dairy farmer households, improve their farming practices and provide a route to market for their milk, which goes into the production of local dairy products. 

“It doesn’t make sense to improve efficiency or talk about better livelihoods if there isn’t a mature market in place to off-take the milk. That’s why we are working within both areas simultaneously, and the farm enables us to accelerate on both agendas,” says Stevens.

The milk sourced from the local smallholder farm clusters, from the Damau farm and the Arla farm will be pooled and used to produce local dairy products at one of the two sites Arla is operating in Nigeria. 

Better animal management practices
According to Arla, the farm’s main purpose is to facilitate training sessions for local farmers, students and associates at agricultural universities, veterinary students and other relevant groups.

“By sharing the expert knowledge our farmer owners have accumulated over decades and supporting it with scientific data, we can make a real difference for the local farmers. Improving animal management directly impacts milk yield and quality, leading to better livelihoods for dairy farmers, as long as there is an off-take operation in place, which we are also contributing to,” explains Anna Månsson, head of West Africa at Arla Foods.

“Applying best practices through backward integration is the key to achieving the ambitions we have for the Nigerian dairy industry,” adds Winnie Lai-Solarin, director at the department of animal husbandry services with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.