Editorial- Our concern over FG MOU with dairy companies

FG MOU with dairy companies

We want to commend the effort of the Federal Government towards tackling the conflict between the pastoralists and farmers through the use of global best practice of animal production with efficient process of off takers by the private sector as the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) graciously signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with one of the processing companies in the country recently thereby increasing the numbers of the MOUs in this regards. 

But this to our minds still need to be jealously guarded as these MOUs with the FMARD would have been better done with cattle farmer associations who are the producers of the raw milk which is an essential material for these processing companies. This caution becomes very eminent so that the avenue is not abuse to the detriment of the entire nation by way of using the process to bring in their already processed products into the country to demoralize our local production and processing.

One would have expected the aspect of efficient milk collection centres in the country to be proactively put in place before this kind of MOU process can now take place if at all with the FMARD, having in mind that the act registering this company has authorized them the right to explore all sources of the raw materials as long as they have the efficient machinery in place to ensure the processing into milk without much interference of the FMARD whose mandate is to provide the enabling environment.

Our concern is that this avenue is not taken as an advantage to ridicule the government at the end of the day as one may not rule out this possibility of using the MOU avenue to bring in their powered milk into the country knowing fully well that a lot still need to be done for efficient animal dairy production that will generate the required  raw milk material for national functional production at the collection centres with off takers having a cooling facility to convey for processing without losing potency especially in the face of distance to Lagos where many of them reside.

The effort of the FG through improved grass seeds importation for multiplication towards availability of nutritional grasses for animals as food is commendable, but with reservation that more capacity still needs to be built for the herdsmen in the use of best agronomics practice of food nutrition without moving the animals about with strict compliance to grazing reserves and ranching for easy accessibility to grasses and other fodder technologies.

Importantly, it would have been more appropriate that milk processing companies engage in a MOU with the cooperative cattle milk producers like the Miyetti Allah and investors in commercial ranching for raw milk production than direct signing with the FMARD which its implication can be very damaging in case the agreement is being abused by any of the company directly or indirectly. An instance of this nature was the MOU between the wheat farmers association of Nigeria and the Flour millers which was only facilitated by the government without its direct involvement in the MOU.

In the crave to reposition the livestock production sub-sector of the economy, it is very pertinent that previous reports from past committees be very understudied before taking any action that will take us back from achieving our dream desired economy of checkmating import bill on meat and powered milk through local production and processing in Nigeria.