Olam’s Subsidiary Vaccinates Cattle against Foot and Mouth Disease in Kano

Dike Onwuamaeze
Outspan Nigeria Limited (ONL), the dairy business of Olam Food Ingredients (ofi), has flagged off vaccination exercise against the foot and mouth disease for 1,500 dairy cattle in Dawakin Tofa Local Government Area of Kano State.

The vaccination exercise is being carried out in partnership with the Kano Dairy and Livestock Husbandry Cooperative Union (KADALCU) that comprised over 70,000 smallholder dairy farmers.

The exercise is meant to improve cattle health management and enhance milk production level in the state.

The Manager of ONL, Kano, Mr. Ahmed Adetunji, who represented the National Sales Operations Manager of Olam, Mr. Vipin Patel, said: “We keep deepening our involvement in the local dairy value chain by engaging an extensive number of smallholder farmers to facilitate improve farming practices in the value chain, while we inject the necessary investment funds to expand local milk production.

“The vaccination exercise will remove constraints around dairy cattle health management which directly affects the cattle productivity level and by extension increases the quantity and quality of milk being produced locally.”

Adetunji added that in addition to the recent insemination exercise on 1000 cows in the state, the opening of a new milk collection centre to preserve the quality of milk produced locally and the training of smallholder dairy farmers on the adoption of modern farming practices, all sponsored by the ONL, “the vaccination exercise against foot and mouth disease, which is considered deadly among livestock, is expected to fast track the achievement of milk production self-sufficiency in the country.”

The Chairman of the Kano Dairy Union, Mr. Usman Abdullahi Usman, and a Dairy Cosultant, Mr. Celestine Ayok, who were present at the event thanked ONL for its contribution to the growth aspirations of the dairy value chain.