Kaduna’s pastoral dairy upgraded to boost milk production

The Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) has demonstrated a pilot artificial insemination of 20 white fulani local dairies volunteered by the Damau Village Milk Producers Cooperative Society in Kubau Local Government Area of Kaduna State to boost the country’s milk production.

The RMRDC also provided a solar milk chiller to the community where the Kaduna State Government has also earmarked 9,000 hectares of farmland to settle 1,000 pastoralists in a partnership with Danish dairy giant, Arla.

The Director-General of the council, Prof Hussain Doko Ibrahim, said the multiple effects expected from artificial insemination of the cattle with semen of Hostein fresian is to transfer high potency germplasm for increased milk yield to Nigeria’s indigenous white fulani cattle.

Prof. Ibrahim, who was represented by Dr Olugbenga Bolarinwa Olugbemi, also said it was expected that the filial generation from the cross breed would boost milk yield from 1.5 litres of milk per cow per day to 30 litres per day.

The RMRDC project chairperson, Dr Mary Chibuzor Abiaeye, informed the Fulani community that their raw milk could be preserved at 4°C in the solar-powered milk chiller till bulk off-takers come to collect the milk and urged the pastoralists to accept animal husbandry as a profitable commercial venture.

“The cooperative society should pull funds and provide sustainable water and green pasture for their cattle all seasons of the year,” she said, and implored the state government to adequately equip the veterinary clinic at the grazing reserve.

Earlier, the state Commissioner for Agriculture, Hajiya Halima Lawal, acknowledged the improvement of the local breed through artificial insemination programme of the RMRDC as a key element in addressing the production deficit of milk towards milk sufficiency to meet national demand.

A community leader in Damau, Abubakar Umar, expressed excitement when he told Arewa Trust that the council brought two things that will change their lives. “They brought solar and fridge that will be used to preserve our milk for a longer time until buyers come.

“Another thing is artificial insemination for cows, the essence of which is to change the breed of our cows to look like foreign ones. Our own cows can generate only one litre of milk, at most three, but according to the experts, with this insemination, our cows can produce at least 1.5 liters of milk a day,” he said.