The Chief Executive Officer of the Milk Value Chain Foundation, Dr. Ishaq Bello has said that milk production in Kaduna state has been boosted from 300 liters per day to 2, 500 liters.
He also noted that there has been an increase in the number of clusters where milk is collected from three to 18.
Speaking at a dissemination and responsible business conduct workshop to assess the level of success and challenges of the milky-way partnership project in Nigeria organized by the foundation in Kaduna, Dr. Ishaq disclosed that producers have witnessed a gross increment of 200 per cent.
According to him, “We have achieved a lot since 2017, we have seen an appreciable increase in the number of clusters where we are collecting milk from three to 18 and milk supply has been boosted from between 250 to 300 liters per day to a maximum of 2, 500 liters per day.
“We are also implementing two additional projects; one is funded by the ECOWAS through Swiss Corporation; and the other funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark which it is hoped that they will continue to expand and even, one of them is more focused on the environment and the other one is more focused on youth employment, so activities will continue.”
Earlier, the Head of Corporate Social Responsibility of Arla foods, Irene Quist Montensen and also one of the project partners said the milky-way project has succeeded in Nigeria and will soon to be replicated in Indonesia.
Montensen highlighted that Arla conducts Responsible Business Conduct Workshops to ensure that Arla and its partners operate without causing harm to man and the environment. She added that the basic areas identified are; basic human right risks, gender, land rights, environment, insecurity.
A critical stakeholder in the implementation of the milky-way partnership, Dr. Umar Ardo said: “We have put in place measures so that N10 is removed from every liter of milk sold and put back into the bank account of the cooperative or members of the cooperative and from that cumulative amount of money from the sales of milk, we will be able to run or manage the cooperative groups and use it also as counterpart for other sources of funding, even financial provisions.”
