By Our Correspondent
The National Biotechnology Development Agency (NABDA) is committed to making Nigeria self-sufficient in dairy production, according to its Director-General.
The NABDA DG, Prof. Abdullahi Mustapha, made the pledge at a two-day Strategic Interest Research Group Meeting on livestock genetic improvement (SIRGM 4.0), on Thursday, in Ibadan, Oyo State.
TheNewsZenith reports that the theme of the meeting is “Accelerating Genetic Improvement for Advances in Livestock Agriculture”.
The DG said the meeting was to bring all stakeholders together, to brainstorm on a way forward.
According to him, Nigeria does not need to import dairy products. This is because the country has the requisite number of cattle and the capacity to feed them.
Scientists can transform these cattle to produce more than what they are producing at the moment.
The DG noted that each Nigerian cattle was producing less than two litres of milk per day at this moment.
“This is not supposed to be. So, we are now aiming to produce 10 to 15 litres per day.
“Already, we are working toward transforming Nigerian cattle, using the technique that will sequence our cattle breeders.
“We have also started the insemination of our cattle and that of a variety of Brazilian cattle,” Mustapha said.
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The DG gave instances of many countries that have transformed the value chain of their cattle. He cited an instance of Brazil, which he said, is now producing high-quality milk.
“NABDA has taken steps to improve Nigeria’s dairy production for economic value.”
“Nigeria is a big market in West Africa. So, if we get it right, we will get a lot of market for dairy products and generate income.”
NABDA D-G recalled that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu recently declared an emergency on Agriculture, charging stakeholders to work hard for the nation’s economic transformation.
On his part, Prof. Nash Oyekanmi, Director of Genomics and Bioinformatics department at NABDA, said the agency had registered 21 farms.
Oyekanmi said so far, the agency had inseminated more than 600 cows. He said the insemination of Nigerian cattle with Brazilian cattle has produced the first offspring (F1).
“We are going to do a genomic analysis of the F1 to see what they have taken from the two parents so that we can predict the potential of these cows for milk production,” he said.
TheNewsZenith reports that genomic analysis or prediction in beef cattle provides accuracy higher than the average of parents based on the pedigree of selected candidates.
The director expressed optimism that Nigeria would be self-sufficient in dairy production as a result of the NABDA’s ongoing collaborative efforts.
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