FrieslandCampina debunks claims on backward integration
The foremost dairy manufacturer, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria Plc, has debunked the claim from various news publications about the misleading information on the dairy company’s commitment to backward integration.
To put things in perspective and correct any erroneous impression made to the public, the company has listed its journey of backward integration in Nigeria.
According to the company, it started local production in 1975 and in 1984 FrieslandCampina WAMCO pioneered its first backward integration in dairy through the establishment of a dairy farm located in Vom, Plateau State. Since then, it has integrated all learnings and progressed into a more sustainable dairy value chain model named Dairy Development Programme which was launched in 2010.
FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s Dairy Development Programme (DDP) currently operates in various communities across the South West and northern part of Nigeria covering Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Kwara and Niger States respectively.
The DDP focuses on working with pastoralists, small holder dairy farmers and commercial farms, with support from various partners such as IFDC-2SCALE, Bles Dairies, Wageningen University, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and the Central Bank of Nigeria.
“Through the dairy development programme, local farmers are supported in the production of milk (yield per cow improvement), improving milk quality and hygiene, feeding, breeding and farm management. The locally sourced milk from these farmers is collected through own Milk Collection Centre (MCC) which are 28 in total, then transported to the WAMCO processing facility in Lagos and processed into Yoghurt and recombined products in evaporated milk. This is in line with our grass to glass philosophy which seeks to ensure quality from the grass the cows feed on to the glass of milk taken by our consumers,” the company said in a statement.
The company also partnered with Foster Dairy Development in Nigeria and signed an MoU on dairy development with FMARD in 2011. This MoU had since been renewed in 2016, with the most recent MoU undergoing a renewal process with FMARD.
Toward Sustainable clusters in Agribusiness through Learning in Entrepreneurship (2SCALE) programme, is a business incubator led by the International Fertilizer Development Centre (IFDC) that manages a portfolio of public-private partnerships for inclusive business in agri-food sectors and industries.
Faciliteit Duurzaam Ondernemen en Voedseizerkerheid (FDOV), co-financed by the Dutch government, the FDOV project focuses on developing and supporting small holder farmers.
The company also signed MoU with Niger State Government in November 2019 to develop dairy on 10,000 hectares of land. This project is operational with planned activities being implemented in phases.
It invested N21billion in Dairy Development Programme across Nigeria
FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s Dairy Development Programme with support from partners has continued to successfully deliver the objectives below among others.
It improves the livelihood of over 10,000 smallholder dairy farmers and pastoralists organized in 23 cooperatives by empowering and integrating them into WAMCO’s fresh milk supply chain, which provides guaranteed market access all year around.
Furthermore, in 2018, an FDOV project co-financed by the Dutch government focused on development and supporting small holder farmer commenced. The project was executed with partners of frieslandCampina WAMCO such as bles-Dairies, Wageningen University and Research institute and IFDC-2SCALE, in order to achieve these objectives are:
Develop 20 smallholder dairy farmers through support on crossbreed cow, cow shed, farm equipment, vaccinations, boreholes, trainings, pasture development and guaranteed access to the market.
Partnership with the Nigeria government: In 2019 the government intensified efforts on backward integration of the dairy sector. The company entered into joint agreement (MoU) with the Niger state concerning a dairy project at the Bobi Grazing Reserve in the state and signed up for a 40years lease contract representing 10,000 hectares of land at the Reserve.
In mid-2020, the company developed a master plan to accelerate its efforts on Dairy Development and backward integration to reach her ambition of setting up a full new dairy value chain of collecting and processing locally sourced milk in the Northern part of Nigeria into nutritious products for Nigeria consumers.
In the same vein, FrieslandCampina launched Nigeria’s first Dairy expert centre, Centre for Nigeria Dutch Dairy Development (CNDDD) in October 2020. The centre aims to improve dairy production in Nigeria and drive an integrated sustainability agenda by bringing together relevant value chain actors from public sectors, private sector and knowledge centres.
The company said: “As a key stakeholder in strengthening food security in Nigeria and supporting the steady growth of the economy, FrieslandCampina WAMCO remains committed to leading the charge towards sustainable dairy development human capacity building in the dairy sector.”
FrieslandCampina WAMCO has also joined a consortium of three leading international organizations with proven track records which includes, URUS, Barenbrug and Agrifirm to announce its co-operation as strategic partners to accelerate the Nigerian dairy sector.
The programme will be at a webinar scheduled to hold on Tuesday April 20, 2021. The key representatives of each partner will share their vision on how to accelerate Dairy Development in Nigeria. The partners will endorse this ambitious plan by signing the cooperation agreement. “We are proud to state that these three professional and world leading companies with proven track records share this ambition and believe in developing the cornerstones of the Nigerian dairy sector with FrieslandCampina WAMCO, the dairy giant enthused.”
According to the Managing Director, FrieslandCampina WAMCO, Ben Langat, “In FrieslandCampina WAMCO, our ambition is to jointly invest in local business models to enable the dairy sector become self-sufficient and profitable throughout the entire chain. This will include building joint infrastructures, collaborative training of farmers, investing in local production and leveraging each other’s knowledge and competencies.”
Global Director, Dairy Development and Millstreams, FrieslandCampina, Jeroen Elfers, also affirmed that “only a sector with a return on investment in every part of the chain can be self-sufficient and will survive in the long term”.
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