The National Office for Technology Acquisition and Promotion (NOTAP) has held a sensitization workshop on Dairy Development for Dairy Entrepreneurs/farmers of Kwara State, representing the North Central after hosting a similar one in Kano, representing the North West.
While declaring the event open in Ilorin, the Kwara State Capital, the Director-General of NOTAP, Dr DanAzumi Mohammed Ibrahim, represented by the Director Consultancy Services of NOTAP, Dr Adamu Tandama said that Nigeria is blessed with a high number of cattle but due to the nomadic way of life, Nigerian Cows yield a small quantity of milk.
He said the situation was further compounded by poor and inadequate knowledge of the modern techniques of cow breeding.
He said that Vietnam and the Netherlands are the highest producers of milk and may not have the number of Cows Nigeria has but they apply the global best practices in cattle breeding to ensure high milk yield.
He added that technology is what rules the world and for Dairy entrepreneurs to develop their business to the point of producing enough milk for the Nigerian market, they must adopt the modern methods of ranching, breeding and cow milking.
The Director-General noted that Cows that produce enough milk are ranched in a centre where they are well fed with adequate hygiene assured.
He advised the Dairy entrepreneurs to form corporate societies and groups as history has shown that the level of success for individual Dairy entrepreneurs/farmers is far less than when they form groups.
He further stated that the reason for the workshop was to sensitize Dairy farmers on the best global practices in Dairy production as well as introduce them to the use of high breed Cows for Dairy businesses that are higher in milk yield than the local Cows that we have in the country.
Dr Ibrahim further stated that in order to ensure technology transfer and global best practices in Dairy production, the Office in 2013 opened a partnership with Friesland Campina WAMCO who established mini milk collection centres in Ibadan, Oyo State.
He added that the company built a settlement for the Fulani herders, ranched their Cows and introduced them to the modern methods of growing Cows and milking processes which has turned to a lucrative business for even the non-Fulani’s around the locality.
He said the project was introduced as a result of NOTAP’s collaboration with Friesland Campina WAMCO Nigeria plc in order to add local content to milk produced in Nigeria and also ensure the availability of milk for our teeming population.
During the technical session, the participants were introduced to the key elements of entrepreneurship which will be a guide for high success rate in their businesses as well as the modern techniques in product marketing.
The participants were taught that marketing products were an essential aspect of business as goods produced without buyers especially perishables will put the entrepreneur out of business through losses.
 has held a sensitization workshop on Dairy Development){kind=link}