Jigawa: Fulani communities get milk collection centre

Fulani communities across Ringim and Taura local government areas of Jigawa State are ready to welcome a milk collection centre, courtesy of L & Z Integrated Farms, Nigeria Limited and facilitated by the Commercial Dairy Ranchers Association of Nigeria (CODARAN). The gesture is aimed at enhancing economic growth in the communities.

It is part of the Community Milk Aggregation and Empowerment Initiative under the Milk Aggregation and Logistics Development Project (MALDEP).

The centre, which is to be established at Riniyal community of Ringim, will serve as a hub for Fulani herders across the two local government areas.

Speaking about the initiative, the chairman of Ringim Local Government, who was represented by Muhammadu Murtala Abubakar, said, “It will go a long way in helping our people, especially the Fulani. We are calling on them to make use of the opportunity.

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“Riniyal is a place where you find a huge amount of milk; we are largely farmers. At least you will get 3,000 litres everyday for sale.”

On his part, the national secretary of CODARAN, Abimbola Daniyan, explained that, “The project aims to lift our people and their lives to be better. Our country can never be better until we work together to lift ourselves up for collective progress.

“We want you to realise this and know that it is to the best interest of your development financially. You already know the work; we are not teaching you anything, but you will improve and get benefits. It only takes modern techniques to conquer that.”

The executive director of CODARAN, Mr Dianabasi Akpainyang, who spoke extensively about the project, highlighted its impact on the communities, saying it would change the lives of residents for better.

He said, “We are here in this community because we believe that we have the milk resources. There has been the talk that we should depend on imported milk products into the country, but we are of the opinion that within the local communities we have smallholder farmers who have cattle and are able to produce milk. But the challenge we have over time is that we are not able to create an access market for milk products by smallholder farmers within rural communities. That is why the Commercial Dairy Ranchers Association of Nigeria has this relationship with L&Z Integrated Farms and the people of Ringing Local Government Area.

“We believe there is a good critical mass of smallholder farmers based in communities, who have cattle and can produce milk, which we can harvest and buy at reflective market prices. We will also give them certain benefits that will make them sell the milk to us.

“We process the milk through the processor company, which is L&Z Integrated Farms.

“This is the first of its kind in Jigawa State; and we believe that with the success of this particular project, we will be able to scale it to other communities.”

He continued, “We intend to fully establish the milk collection centre before the end of the second quarter of 2025. So, first of all, what we will do in the first quarter of 2025 – between January and March – is to do what we call stakeholder and community mapping to know the number of farmers resident in this place, how many cows they have, how much milk volumes they produce that we can collect from them; and to provide training for them to be able to do their milk collection in a hygienic manner so that it would not be rejected by the processor. 

“After that, we hope that within the second quarter of next year we would have the equipment in place. But between January and when the equipment comes, we will actually come around to put the structure in place. So we believe that before the end of the second quarter, the milk collection centre would have been in place and to commence.

“We are not here to extract milk and run away. This is an all-encompassing project because we are the operators in the dairy industry.

“We know the challenges that bedevil that industry. This project is one of those that have come out to solve some of the systemic issues we have in the dairy sector. One of them is the way the dairy business is done. 

“We intend to provide capacity building for smallholder farmers because we want the dairy business to be done as a commercial enterprise where the producers are able to earn money. When they earn money from milk production they will see the value and continue to do better in a way that the money they have will continue to increase.

“One of the key things we will do will be capacity building, which will cut across all the angles of dairy business management. We are looking at training 

on feed and fodder production so that they would be able to feed their cattle very well. When the cattle are well fed, obviously, milk production will increase. These are the things we want.

“We also want to do a bit of infrastructure development; for example, to have milk cans for farmers so that they can harvest their milk in a hygienic manner in order not to be rejected at the collection centre. So we are here for an all-encompassing, end-to-end project so that farmers and the company involved will benefit, the CODARAN association will benefit, the dairy industry in Nigeria will benefit and Nigeria’s economy will also benefit.”

The coordinator, Strategic Partnership Department of L & Z Integrated Farms Nigeria Limited, Aisha Muhammad Abdullahi, highlighted how the initiative started over the last 25 years.

“We have been in this. We started with not more than 10 cows, courtesy of our founders’ concern for our women travelling long distances everyday to sell milk. This is what gives birth to the milk collection initiative.

“We are the first company to go door to door and collect your milk and pay you up your money. This has helped our people a lot. We are currently sponsoring children of our clients to school and train the women on business models that will go a long way in sustaining and improving their livelihoods.

“We have in Birnin Kudu; to be cited in Gwaram. This is another place we were told that milk is produced on a large scale. Once we test your milk and it is okay, we will give you money in cash, and you will be absorbed into the CODARAN so that you will be communicating with one voice. 

“No more travelling in search of who to buy our milk and risk ourselves. We are providing three motorcycles to be used in collecting the milk through the nooks and crannies of communities around, stress-free.

“By doing this, we will protect the dignity of our women, and at the same time, make them more independent. Even rearing of animals will henceforth be a thing of modernisation,” she said.

Some residents who spoke on behalf of the community, such as Aminu Ibrahim Muhammad and Adamu Abdullahi, the secretary of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, commended the initiative, saying the milk collection centre would improve the lots and livelihood of their families.