‘Why Nigeria should encourage PPP model for dairy business development’

A Nigerian postgraduate student and participant at the Global Food Security Symposium, Oyewale Abioye, has told the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that Nigeria must keep up its progress in dairy agri-business by encouraging public-private partnerships.He made this submission at the just concluded Global Food Security Symposium held in Washington DC, United States where he made a research presentation.

Abioye was the only student from a Nigerian university on the 2018 Next Generation delegation. He is a postgraduate student of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Ibadan.Abioye spoke keenly about his interaction with dairy pastoralists during his research evaluation of the Dairy Development Programme (DDP) run by FrieslandCampina WAMCO in Oyo State.

“Dairy farmers need to identify the value in the value chain and only then can they ascertain where exactly the government and private sectors can assist in bridging those gaps”, said Abioye

In a panel discussion moderated by Trent McKnight, founder of AgriCorps, Abioye introduced “Project mDairy”, a novel mobile service platform he designed alongside 3 other youth innovators, for dairy pastoralists and smallholder farmers to access information and best-practice tips on the dairy value chain.

Convened yearly by the Council’s Global Agricultural Development Initiative, the symposium on global agriculture and food security provides a platform for discussion about international community’s progress on addressing the problem of food insecurity

Abioye said he was inspired to do Project mDairy when FrieslandCampina WAMCO partnered with Delft University of Technology on the Dutch-Nigerian Students Business Challenge.

According to Abioye, Vaccines, food choices, milk hygiene and access to veterinary care are the fundamental concerns of Oyo dairy farmers whose livelihoods and businesses have improved significantly since FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s intervention through its Dairy Development Programme.

Since 2011, the DDP has been a key component of FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s business strategy in improving the quantity and quality of dairy production in the country. The programme currently empowers over 2000 farmers through a sustainable value chain.