‘Nigeria Spends $1.5bn Annually Importing Dairy Products’
CHIGOZIE AMADI
The Nigeria’s vice president, Kashim Shettima,has revealed that Nigeria spends $1.5 billion annually, importing milk and other dairy products, due to the nation’s production deficit.
Shettima, made the disclosure while unveiling the National Dairy Policy, 2023-2028 to address the deficit.
The vice president who was represented by Kingsley Uzoma, the senior special assistant to the president on agribusiness and productivity enhancement, made the revelation at the World Milk Day Mega Celebration 2024, an official unveiling of the National Dairy Policy, which was held in Abuja with the theme ‘Harnessing the Nutrition and Investment Opportunities in the Dairy Value Chain”.
“Nigeria spends $ 1.5 billion annually importing dairy products due to a production deficit,” Shettima said at the event organised by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture And Food Security in collaboration with other key stakeholders in the dairy sector”.
The vice president further informed that Nigerians consumes an average of 1.6 billion liters of milk and its products, but domestic production is insufficient to meet this demand.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration is determined to achieve national production security, with the longer-term goal of eventually exporting dairy products to other African countries under the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA),” he said.
“The National Dairy Policy is designed to serve as a roadmap for energising the dairy industry over the coming years. Its implementation will ensure improved dairy farming practices, increased investment in dairy processing and preservation, evidence-based policy implementation, enhanced collaboration, ease of business for the dairy industry, fostering public-private partnerships, embracing technology and innovation, empowering women-friendly and youth-centric business models, promoting good animal health practices, and monitoring and evaluating progress.
“World Milk Day, established in 2001 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, was created to recognize the importance of milk as a global food and to recognise the contribution of the dairy sector to various facets of our lives.”
