Outspan Vaccinates Local Cattle against Foot, Mouth Disease

Dike Onwuamaeze

Outspan Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Olam Food Ingredients (OFI), has vaccinated local cattle against foot and mouth disease (FMD) that can negatively impact productivity throughout the dairy value chain.

Outspan explained that the vaccination exercise is part of the its robust local dairy value chain backward integration programme’s (BIP) investment, which is meant to raise the level of milk production in the country in support of the Federal Government’s economic diversification agenda.

Speaking on the vaccination exercise, the Vice President of OFI Dairy in Nigeria, Mr. Praveen Paulsamy, said: “We are committed to the federal government’s economic development agenda. Hence, we’re looking to continue our investment in developing the local dairy value chain to remove the hurdles that have been impeding growth in that area.

“Animal health is a significant component of any dairy value chain development focus. Helping the dairy farmers vaccinate their cattle is a valuable investment that has the potential to improve the cattle milk production and reproduction levels in the long run.”  

Also, the Regional Manager, OFI Dairy in Nigeria, Mr. Manish Khede, explained that “Nigeria is our home. We have set various BIP’s investment machinery in motion to drive growth in the local dairy value chain. We aim to enable smallholder farmers to increase their outputs with a great impact on the incomes of the segment.”

The representative of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), at the event, Mr. Aminu Garba, who is the manager of the Development Finance Office of the apex bank’s branch in Kano, said: “A healthy cattle automatically leads to higher cattle yield, which translates to improve business for the local smallholder dairy farmers.”

Similarly, the Director of Kano State Institute of Horticulture, Mr. Wakili Shehu, who represented the permanent secretary of the Kano State Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources, emphasised that “through Outspan’s first vaccination exercise the state has seen improvement in animal health and recorded a low incidence level of animal disease challenges.”

The Chairman of KDC, Mr. Usman Abdullahi, thanked Outspan for its consistent support for smallholder dairy farmers.