Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of KadunaDanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Torben Gettermann has revealed the plan by his country to soon establish modern dairy farm in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
Ambassador Gettermann, who paid farewell visit to President Muhammadu Buhari today, he Monday at the presidential villa, Abuja said that the plan is to have 1,000 families of herdsmen with 12,000 heads of cattle in a location.
He said that they would enjoy veterinary attention, schools for their children, and generally live as a small community, adding that a Danish company, Arla, will then buy the milk off the cattle farmers.
According to him, instead of the Danish government will bring investors through its Agriculture Counsellor in the country, while the Kaduna State government will provide initial infrastructure and funding.
“Dairy farming is not exactly the same thing as ranching. It will yield better meat, and the Danish company will buy the milk from the farmers.
” A pilot project will start in Kaduna, and then move to other locations, as it becomes commercially viable. ”
Receiving the outgoing Ambassador, who spent four years in Nigeria, was President Buhari said the initiative on dairy farming being championed by the Kingdom of Denmark and the Kaduna State government would go a long way in curbing clashes between cattle herders and farmers in the country.
The President emphasised that establishment of dairy farms will save the country from the almost perennial problem of clashes between herders and farmers, made worse by population explosion.
He is confident that when the dairy farms are “economically viable, the cattle herders will see the need to stay in one place, as they will realize that productive considerations, rather than the number of heads of cattle, are more important.”
