A dairy milk collection centre built by the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to collect cow milk from the Zawi Grazing Reserve, Adamami, in Shira Local Government Area of Bauchi State, has commenced milk production of 2,000 litres per day to help bridge the milk production gap in Nigeria.

Speaking at the site of the project on Tuesday, the CEO of L\&Z Integrated Farms, Alh. Mohammadu Abubakar, whose dairy firm runs the milk collection centre at the grazing reserve, said that the country is facing a milk production shortage and needs to bridge the gap by settling the pastoralists, as dairy products contribute to the nation’s economy.

He said, “Nigeria imports about $1.5 billion worth of milk products from abroad, but what the Federal Government has done is to introduce a policy to encourage backward integration and import substitution. In that case, a whole Ministry for Livestock was established to focus on that.”

He said that if Nigeria could boost aggregation and collection facilities, the country could bridge the milk shortage gap with its 22 million cows.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of Shira Local Government Area, Babangida Maliya, pledged rural support and the provision of adequate security measures to protect the facility and help contribute to the local economy.

Maliya appealed to pastoralists to supply milk to the facility while improving their economic conditions and enrolling their wards in school. He pledged to ban rural women and girls from going to the farm and instead focus on education.

The ceremony was attended by a representative of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, the District Head of Shira, and other stakeholders.