AMBASSADOR OF DENMARK TO NIGERIA / CAMEROON / EQUATORIAL GUINEA / REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO / CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC, Mr. JESPER KAMP

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development

Governor ofKatsina State

Vice Chancellor

NAPRI Director

Your Excellences

-         I do not recall being to a more beautiful place in Nigeria than today.

-         The MoU between NAPRI and Arla is the perfect examples of successful Public Private Partnership. The MoU is based on the MoU between Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and Arla.

-         Inauguration of the Milking Parlour here at NAPRI is a big step towards business based milk production here in Kaduna State and Nigeria.

-         On our way to NAPRI today most of us has seen cattle on the fields, which are managed through traditional cattle rearing principles in Nigeria, which means they are fed from what Nature provides in the neighbourhood and water from creeks or wells.

-         The capacity of milk production from this production system is very limited, due to lack of feed and water especially in the dry season.

-         Due to the lack of feed, due to the origin of the feed and waters it is difficult to produce milk which fulfil international food safety requirements for milk products.

-         Changing milk production from a cultural based herd management into a business model based on data registration is a huge and challenging task.

-         The MoU between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Arla Foods (better nown as Dano Milk) and FMARD is an agreement on cooperation for changing the local milk production into a business based milk production format, this in order to be sustainable for both the farmers and milk processors.

-         From the very beginning of the project, the Danish Government decided to support this transformation for capacity building of farmers to ensure the profitability for the farmers and hope that it will make it possible for the herdsmen to settle as farmers in the north.

-         The support for the project is given through anEmbassy programme, called DANIDA Partnership Program, which provide money for teaching and knowledge sharing with the farmers how to improve milk production. The project is naked “The Milkyway Partnership” and involves Dano Milk, Care, SEGES, Food& Agricultural Council.

-         At the inauguration today we see the technical part of the project, which is a Milking Parlour, which makes it possible to milk the cows and keep the milk in a closed environment,cool it directly after the milking. This process is essential factors for producing high quality milk, which to be processed into milk products of international standard.

-         But the milking is just the “harvest” of many factors, which have to be created on a dairy farm. NAPRI is already working with a number of the factors, which gives a good milk production.

-         The farmer needs to be aware of having the right cows. Meaning cows with a great milking potential.

-         The capacity program will teach farmers how to select the best cows and then improve the cow breeds through selection and cross breeding with cattle with higher milk potential and it will show farmers how to feed their cows in both rainy and dry season, to ensure milk production all year around.

-         The Milking Parlour is a key instrument in this development, due to the fact that milk yield for every cow is registered every day. This means the plans for feeding and reproduction of the cows can be based on data registered in the system, so optimal conditions can be achieved for the cows.

-         The capacity building is very much about settling the cows for milking Ana avoid migrating cows, to ensure that the feed and water intake comes from controlled resources of good quality.

-         At today’s inauguration here at NAPRI, a lot of the element can be seen in action, and we will be looking forward to see the system expanded in the near future.

-         We are working with the National Livestock Transformation Programme to develop milk models for farms, to have herdsmen settle as farmers, in order to minimize grazing from cows in agricultural areas.

-         We are pleased to see a lot of these activities are performed through a number of local partnerships with FMARD, Kaduna State, Milcopal, NAPRI, Zaidi Farms, CORET, Propcom Ma-Karfi and more to come.

-         One of the key objectives for the programmes are to create a sustainable livelihood for the men, women and children of Nigeria and thereby humbly contribute to peace and stability in this beautiful country.

-         I wish you all a successful inauguration and a successful future for Nigerian Milk Production.