Nigerian Newsday

By Nnenna Igwe

The Federal government plans to establish N50 million daily plant in Abuja in collaboration with the United States of America for Development (USAID).

This was disclosed by Prof. Peter Onwualu, Director-General of the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC) at Gwagwalada near Abuja, at the inauguration of the 1,000 litre milk collection and cooling centre.

He said the objective was to make fresh milk, butter, fermented skimmed milk and cheese readily available at all times for residents of the capital city and its environs. He added "Availability of fresh milk has been taken for granted in Nigeria, whereas in other countries of the world, it is commonly available like our pure water".

Onwualu said government had brought all the stakeholders together to work out the modalities for the establishment of the dairy, and that from study, there were more than 35,000 hectares of grazing reserves in the FCT alone with more than one million cattle population.

Ten percent of the population, he added, were female breed, generating 50,000 litres of milk daily.

Onwualu also announced that RMRDC and USAID had also commissioned a feasibility study for mini daily plants in four grazing reserves in FCT.

He said the plants, when established, would expand economic opportunities and commercialization of agricultural product especially from the Fulani communities.