The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Ernest Umakhihe, has said the government is working with stakeholders to reduce importation of dairy products, increase local production of Nigeria’s diary product.
The Permanent Secretary made this known at the Validation workshop on the National Dairy Policy on Tuesday, in Abuja.
Dr. Umakhihe pointed out that the ministry was following due process in a bid to actualize the policy.
He noted that successive administrations had made efforts to close the gap through programmes rich as Dairy Development Programme, amongst others adding that continuous drive towards meeting national sufficiency in dairy production in the process reducing the huge amount spent on dairy importation.
He informed that “the draft policy will support the implementation of the National Agricultural Technology and Innovation Plan (NATIP) and FMARD. It will give defined direction for the country’s dairy industry where all players at whatever scale will be expected to abide by rules of operation, in terms of production, processing and marketing of dairy products in Nigeria.”
In her welcome address, Director, Animal Husbandry Services Department in the Ministry Mrs. Winnie Lai-Solarin stated that the dairy sub sector plays a significant role in the country’s agro-economy, contributing to the qualitative nutrition of the citizenry and the overall food security status of the nation.
She added that the issue of low milk yield, poor handling, and post-harvest losses of dairy products was a concern. “We need to continually improve the productivity of dairy animals genetically.
