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Business News of Monday, 12 December 2022

Source: guardian.ng

Nestlé Nigeria commissions new Milk Collection Centre in Kaduna

Nestle Nestle

Nestlé Nigeria has inaugurated a new Milk Collection Centre at the Ladugga Grazing Reserve in Kachia Local Council, Kaduna State.

This milestone brings the milk collection and cooling capacity of Nestlé’s Dairy Development Programme 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. International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC-2CALE) is supporting this initiative.

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

“Nestlé Nigeria’s dairy project is built on three pillars: Better Feed and Fodder, Quality Milk Products and Resilient Communities. We have made significant progress on these three pillars and the opening of this Milk Collection and Cooling Centre will help us consolidate on this progress which has yielded 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.

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

Speaking at the inauguration, the Commissioner for Agriculture, Kaduna State – Malam Ibrahim Hassaini, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Alhaji Manisibi Mohammed Kabiru, thanked Nestlé and CBI Innovations Limited for initiating the Milk Collection Centre in Kaduna State which will accelerate investment in the dairy sector and empower pastoralists as well as 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 utilise 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 farmers’ capacity building, infrastructure improvement and novel technology to create sustainable routes to market for the pastoralists.