Outspan vaccinates local cattle against foot, mouth disease

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From left, Regional Manager, ofi Dairy in Nigeria, Mr Manish Khede; Manager, Development Finance Office, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Kano branch, Mallam Aminu Garba; Chairman of Kano Dairy Cooperative, Alhaji Usman Abdullahi; a veterinarian, Dr Celestine Ayok and the representative of Dawakin Kudu LGA District Head, Alhaji Sabo Dankoli, during the second phase of the cattle vaccination exercise fully sponsored by Outspan and organised in partnership with Kano Dairy Cooperative, in Dawakin Local Government Area, Kano State, recently.

OUTSPAN Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of olam food ingredients (ofi), has vaccinated local cattle against foot and mouth disease (FMD) that can negatively impact productivity throughout the dairy value chain. The vaccination exercise, which was fully sponsored by the business and organized in partnership with the Kano Dairy Cooperative, was held recently, in Dawakin Kudu LGA, Kano.

The latest vaccination exercise is the second phase of wider intervention, targeting 1,000 cattle– having previously targeted the vaccination of 1,500 dairy cattle in 2021. The efforts form part of the business’ robust local dairy value chain backward integration (BIP) investment which aims to raise the level of milk production in the country in support of the Federal Government’s economic diversification agenda.

Speaking on the vaccination exercise, Praveen Paulsamy, Vice President of ofi Dairy in Nigeria, said, “We are committed to the Federal Government’s economic development agenda. Hence, we’re looking tocontinue our investment in developing the local dairy value chain to remove the hurdles that have been impeding growth in that area.”

“Animal health is a significant component of any dairy value chain development focus. Helping the dairy farmers vaccinate their cattle is a valuable investment that has the potential to improve the cattle milk production and reproduction levels in the long run,” he added.

Praveen said that the business is aiming to keep scaling the current support for dairy farmers in terms of providing more training for the farmers, aiding milk collection efficiency, expanding the access to cold chain logistics, improving the off-taking arrangement and increasing the availability of quality feed to nourish the cattle.

Manish Khede, the Regional Manager, ofi Dairy in Nigeria, explained, “Nigeria is our home. We have set various BIP investment machinery in motion to drive growth in the local dairy value chain. We aim to enable smallholder farmers to increase their outputs with a great impact on the incomes of the segment.”

The representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria at the event, Mallam Aminu Garba, who is the Manager of the Development Finance office of the apex bank’s branch in Kano, said, “A healthy cattle automatically leads to higher cattle yield, which translates to improve business for the local smallholder dairy farmers. We are committed to providing the support needed by all development partners to contribute meaningfully to the growth of the economy. Outspan is taking the steps that will lead to growth in the dairy value chain.”

Wakili Shehu, the Director of Kano State Institute of Horticulture, who represented the Permanent Secretary of the Kano State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, emphasised that “Through Outspan’s first vaccination exercise the state has seen improvement in animal health and recorded a low incidence level of animal disease challenges.”

Alhaji Usman Abdullahi, the Chairman of Kano Dairy Cooperative, thanked Outspan for its consistent support for smallholder dairy farmers. He said all the farmers are grateful for the growth that their businesses have been able to record as a result of the support provided by the business.

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