Why Nigeria still imports 70% of its milk — CODARAN director

Nigeria continues to import about 70 percent of the milk consumed in the country due to long-standing challenges in local production, the Executive Director of the Commercial Dairy Ranchers Association of Nigeria (CODARAN), Mr. Diana Abasi Akpanya, has said.

Akpanya explained that Nigeria has the potential to meet its milk needs but is held back by several constraints affecting the dairy value chain. He spoke during the opening of a milk aggregation and collection project at Raffin Yashi, along the Maikunkele Road in Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State.

According to him, “I serve as the Executive Director, Commercial Diary Ranchers Association of Nigeria (CODARAN) saying that it is a private entity. It is Diary’s Industry Actors in Nigeria and our members cut across all the Diary value chain from Milk producers to Milk processors and even suppliers to pastures, animal feeds and other sectors.”

He said the new centre is designed to serve as a hub where milk collected from farmers is stored in cooling tanks before being picked up by processors. “This is a milk collections centre and it is facility that has the storage equipment, storage facilities and we expects that when milk is aggregated from or collected from the farmers, the milk will be brought here and there is a cooling tanks and we will preserve the milk for a few days and the processors, that means the up takers will collect it from the storage facilities,” he said.

Akpanya noted that Niger State has a large cattle population. “We have about 4 million Cows in Niger State,” he said, adding that the organisation plans to work with as many farmers as possible, including the 1,000 farmers in Bosso LGA.

He said CODARAN is engaging local milk aggregators, especially young people empowered with motorcycles and milk pans, to ease the movement of milk from rural communities to the centre. “So, the farmers don’t have to travel from their communities all the way to this place,” he said.

Akpanya also spoke about efforts to discourage constant migration by pastoralists by providing feed, water, and training. “We’re working with the local communities on how we can prevent the migration of the farmers… we want to train them to feed their animals and to empower them with feeds producers serving the communities,” he added.

He said the initiative will help farmers reduce losses, earn steady income, and support the dairy industry. “We believe that they can stay in one place… there will be a lot of steady incomes for the farmers,” he said, noting that the project will also strengthen logistics and cold-chain systems.

Former Commissioner for Livestock, Alhaji Ahmed Umar Rebe, who was present at the event, said the state will support coordination among farmers, aggregators, and processors. “Our responsibility is the Coordination between the farmers, aggregators and the up takers and I can give you assurance that I will coordinate it properly,” he said.

Rebe, a commissioner nominee, added that communication remains critical, saying aggregators must engage farmers in familiar local languages to foster cooperation. He described the project as one that promotes job creation and integration within the dairy sector.

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