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Inside Milky Way Diary Plateau State by Nobody: 7:29pm On Apr 27, 2015 |
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 |
Re: Inside Milky Way Diary Plateau State by Nobody: 4:15am On Apr 28, 2015 |
we need such cows in Nigeria |
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What Can I Plant With #60000 Budget..pls Help / Goat Farming In Nigeria / Benin-city Hydroponics Training
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