Comments
In
2009,
the
Plateau
State
Government
signed
a
joint
venture
agreement
worth
over
N12 billion with SEC Equipment & Communication
Limited for the establishment of Agricultural
Services and Training Centre (ASTC) in the state.
SEC Equipment & Communications (Nig) Ltd is an
Israeli company involved in four major sectors of
the Nigerian economy including agriculture,
security, telecommunication and health.
The company’s joint venture with Plateau State
includes three ASTC and four commercial
agricultural projects, namely: green houses in Vom,
dairy farm and milk processing plant in Butura,
Bokkos, irrigated vegetables in open fields and
irrigated field crops which, according to the state
government, is benefiting over 3,000 farmers.
The ASTCs, which are comprehensive modern
farms centres, have one located in each of the
three senatorial districts of the state- Kassa/Vom,
Mangu and Shandam centres.
The centres’ aim, according to the state
commissioner for agriculture, Steven Barko, is to
scale up agro productivity of farmers in the state by
providing diverse field services and technical
assistance to all the actors in the agricultural sector
in the state.
The centres provide the needed farm inputs such as
tractors, seedlings, herbicides, soil testing
equipment as well as harvesters, cold storage and
marketing facilities.
Milky Way Diary Farm, which is the name of its
dairy farm and milk processing plant, is where the
Milky Way yogurt alongside some of its animal
products are produced.
Located in the agrarian community of Butura at the
outskirt of Bokkos local government of the state, the
integrated animal farm system, which sits on 300
hectares of land with open field irrigation crops,
provide not just animal products to the Nigerian
market, but also provides training to livestock
farmers in the state.
Ilan Jones, the managing director of the farm, said
the goal of the farm is to provide world class animal
products and training services to the people of the
state through a blend of Israeli agro technology
designed to make the state a vibrant agro hub of
Nigeria.
Jones, who is an Israeli agronomist, was recently
redeployed from the Shendam training centre to the
dairy farm branch to manage the milk production
and processing plant.
Although it is said that the farm is a ‘mini-Israeli’
technology, the breeds of cattle in the farm were
imported from South Africa, instead of Israel.
The reporters asked Jones why the cows are
imported from South Africa, instead of Israel, and,
he said: “It has to do with import policy. Because of
the fear of introducing certain diseases, there are
animals that you cannot import from Middle East or
Europe to Africa.
“Secondly, it is more economically realistic to
import from South Africa, than elsewhere in the
world.”
With about 100 cows, the farm produces over
16,000 litres of fresh milk every day. Each of the
milky cows produces more than 14 litres of fresh
milk, per day, anything lower than that, such a cow
cannot be kept as the cost of maintaining each cow
a month runs into thousands.
But Jones admits that the cows which are imported
from South Africa are, in fact, not the most
productive ones compared to the ones in South
African farms, adding: “South African agriculture is
private sector-driven. No farmer will agree to sell a
very productive cow to you. They normally sell the
ones that perform below their expectations.”
The animals are looked after by a couple of farm
workers, some of whom are students of animal
science from colleges of agriculture from Plateau
and other neighbouring states.
One of the students from the College of Agriculture,
Lafia, says that he sees the farm as an opportunity
to learn many practical things about animal
production.
An official of the farm who spoke on condition of
anonymity, said: “We do take students here from
many schools as interns. But we cannot, of course,
accommodate all the intended interns because we
have limited space. We also conduct students on
excursion round the farm to demonstrate what we
do here to them.”
Taking the reporter through the various sources of
the farm’s animal feeds, the farm director says that
it’s very expensive to produce high standard feeds,
adding that they have to use local sources such as
cotton seeds, corn stalks, hay soybeans, etc, to
produce their feeds.
The farm’s hammer mill has been active in
producing farm feeds to meet the demand of the
animals. Some of the feeds sources are locally
produced in their irrigated fields to cut down the
cost of feed which is the burden of livestock
farmers in the country.
Jones said: “If you want to increase the animals’
productivity, you must feed them very well and
these animals consume a lot daily. Therefore, you
cannot keep any of the cows that falls short of the
daily milk target expected of each cow. Where such
occurs, you have to sell off such a cow. Otherwise,
you run the farm at a loss.”
For the interns, the farm’s computerised milking
house is a rare opportunity to learn much on how to
monitor the health of the animals. The house is
compueterised with automated milking machines
which also monitor the animals’ wellbeing.
Stocked with 16,000 capacity tank, it presents
exciting moments for students taking animal
production as their profession.
Moses Stephen, an intern, said: “We don’t have this
equipment in our schools. Here, we learn practically
every day. It is a worthwhile knowledge.”
At the Milky Way yogurt factory, the farm’s director
said that his job is to get the final product-Milky
Way yogurt, produced and packaged, adding:
“Whatever happens after the product is out of this
gate (pointing at the farm’s main gate) is no longer
my business. It is the business of the company’s
marketing department.”
Although he was not willing to reveal the daily
production capacity of the company, he opined that
the farm is making significant business and
providing the required training services to members
of the public and students.
Jones lamented that the country is yet to tap the
huge agricultural potentials seen across its
landscape, adding: “Only 3% of the Israeli population
are farmers, but they feed the nation as well as
export agro products to European countries. One
farmer may have hundreds of hectares producing
massively within a farm settlement.”
He says that in Israel, government provides
extension services, consultancy and respond to
farmers’ problems, free, at any given moment,
adding: “Nigeria needs to get its agricultural policies
and supports right to be able to make huge impact
internationally. The country has a lot of potentials,
but the system is not working.

http://www.dailytrust.com.ng/daily/agriculture/52819-inside-milky-way-dairy-farm

we need such cows in Nigeria