Ekiti State governor, Kayode Fayemi, has imported more than 200 pregnant cows from the United States of America (USA).
Ekiti-owned Ikun Dairy Farm will manage the pregnant cows in Ikun-Ekiti. The farm is to serve as a prototype for the National Livestock Transformation Plan.
It will address the farmers-herders crisis in the Ekiti, according to Mr Fayemi.
“These cows are going to be stationary. They are not roaming anywhere. They are not going on open grazing. They are right here on the farm.
“You know what we have suffered from open grazing not just in the state but across the length and breadth of the country.
“Once this model works, it will be an indication of what we can achieve through the National Livestock Transformation Plan,” said the governor.
Mr Fayemi stated this during an inspection of the newly-arrived 227 cows at the dairy farm and the farmland to cultivate hays.
He added that the integrated farm, designed to commence production of 10,000 litres of milk daily, was a joint project of Ekiti and Promasidor Diary Company.
Mr Fayemi explained that the pregnant cows would be confined to their sheds on the farm.
According to him, the state acquired about 500 hectares of land to grow fields to take care of the animals to prevent them from roaming about.
The governor said,” The capacity of the dairy farm, being put to use for the first time in the last 40 years, has been expanded to run 24-hour operation in raising of cattle and production of milk.
“The dairy farm will also demonstrate Nigeria’s capacity to be a milk-producing nation rather than being a milk-importing nation.”
Mr Fayemi visited the facility in the company of the farm’s General Manager, Hermann Kibler, and the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Olabode Adetoyi.
He expressed confidence in the private-public partnership arrangement between the state government and Promasidor to guarantee the sustainability and economic viability of the farm.
“This dairy farm has been here for 40 years, and it has not been put to use. This is the first time that it is going to be put into proper use. Agriculture, as we have always said in the state, is the pathway to progress, particularly for us. We are an agrarian society,” Mr Fayemi disclosed.
