Aisha Ahmed
Jigawa – Riniyal community in Ringim local government area of Jigawa state has commended the Commercial Diary Ranchers Association of Nigeria (CODARAN) for setting up a milk collection centre in the area.
The leader of the Fulani settlement, Ardo Muhammad Tukur, made the commendation in a remark at the launch of the Milk Aggregation and Logistics Development Project (MALDEP), which was held in the community.
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He described the project as a remarkable event that will change the community to be a better society in a variety of ways.
Mr Tukur also appealed to the association, government and other stakeholders to introduce an innovation that can contribute to generation more milk from their livestock.
According to him, “If researchers can device a means of obtaining an improved grass seeds which can boost milk production, we will be happy to receive it,” he said.
He appealed for more nomadic schools to be set up in the community, in order to be able to accommodate their large number of children in the schools.
The Executive Director of CODARAN, Mr Dianabasi Akpanyang, in his opening remarks, said the project is geared towards empowering the locals and not milk collection.
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He said that the association will provide training of the animal farmers on the best practices in milk production.
Akpanyang explained that the association will teach the locals on how operate the equipment to milk their cattle and preserve the milk at the same time.
According to him, “the training will cut across all aspects of dairy production, starting with feed and fudder production and hygiene practices in milk collection and storage.
The association will buy the milk from the small holder dairy farmers at market prices and process the it through collaboration with other companies,” he noted.
The ED then appealed to the community, to own and protect the equipment to be delivered for the project, in order to avoid vandalism.
Mrs Aisha Muhammed, Coordinator Strategic Partnership Department at L and Z Integrated Farms, advocated to women to take full advantage of the initiative and create avenues to generate income.
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She explained that the initiative will reduce the burden of hawking and wasting the unsold fresh milk, in a situation where women go to sell and bring back unsold.
Mrs Muhammed stressed that the collaborating partners have also created milk collection centres in other communities in Birnin Kudu and Gwaram areas and will expand to other areas in Jigawa.
Chairman of Ringim local government, Mr Badamasi Garba-Dabi, tasked the community to support the CODARAN community to benefit from various door to door trainings.
He described the project as a welcome development which will empower the nomadic communities around the area.
CODARAN is a nationwide apex body and collective voice for championing the interest of indigenous commercial dairy processors, ranch operators, and small, medium, and large-scale dairy farmers in Nigeria.