Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano
Kano State government through its planned 200 Milk Collection Centers (MCCs) has the potential to add at least 50, 000 liters daily, to Nigeria’s dairy requirement.
The State Project Coordinator, Kano Agro Pastoral Development Project, KSADP, Alhaji Ibrahim Garba Muhammad, announced this during a meeting with Livestock stakeholders in Kano yesterday, regarding identification of sites for the project, to be executed by his agency.
He explained that based on available statistics, each of the MCCs would pool at least 250 liters each day, adding that the quantity would increase significantly, when his project’s proposed artificial insemination scheme takes off.
“This will further be reinforced by our intended intervention in small and large scale fodder production schemes, which will provide more pasture for the cattle, which will lead to increased dairy production.
“In this regard, we have awarded consultancy for the design and supervision of the MCCs. The aim is to assist in improving nutrition through consumption of milk and to curtail huge economic loss due to milk spoilage”.
“If you bring the MCCs closer to communities, the Fulani milk maids will not need to transport the milk over long distances, with the attendant risks, to sell their products. That is why we are looking for appropriate sites to build the centers”.
Ibrahim remarked that each MCC would include cooling facilities, testing kits, a tank and a fodder bank among other things, stressing that the centers would be managed by a committee involving relevant stakeholders in the communities, for sustainability.
Impressed by the justification for the construction of the MCCs, the state branch chairman, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Alhaji Husaini Umar, donated his farm at ‘Yan Rutu, Dawakin Tofa local government for free, for one of the centers to be constructed.
Meanwhile, participants at the meeting identified about 287 locations across the 44 local government areas of Kano, for possible construction of the Milk Collection Centers.
