Gift Joseph Okpakorese
The Governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi has announced that his administration has brought into the state over 200 pregnant cows from the United States of America.
The Ekiti state governor further clarified that the pregnant cows which were imported would be restricted to their barns on the dairy farm.
With the recent tussle and ongoing confrontations between herders and farmers, many state governments are weighing up alternative means of securing their states as well as establishing avenues to allowing economic growth and revenue generation in the various sector within their states.
More so, with the current shift in sources of revenue generated from petroleum and crude products, the Nigerian economy in general, as well as various state governors, are all exploring other viable means of income and revenues and a majority of them are diverting attention to the agricultural sector and investing huge sums to ensure its success in terms of food production and other rel ed farming and animal
husbandry measures, to work out effectively.
Ekiti, on its part, has strengthened its resolve and initiative to facilitate its own self- subsistent dairy farm products and as providence would have it, there has been an existing farm located at Ikun which has now been recently upgraded.
The state government has stated that with the recent developments and purchase, the dairy farm will see to the management of the pregnant cows in Ikun-Ekiti. He further added that the objective is for the farm to serve as a model for the National Livestock Transformation Plan and would also deal with the recurrent crisis and confrontations between farmers-herders within Ekiti state.
In his words;
“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,” the governor remarked.
The state government made these statements, while he was inspecting the newly purchased cows at the dairy farm and the farmland in general, to nurture hays. He also disclosed that the integrated farm, which was constructed to initiate output of 10,000 liters of milk every day, was also an initiative and joint program of Ekiti and Promasidor Diary Company.
While revealing how impressed he was with the quality of work done so far, Fayemi also spoke on the possibility of the pregnant cows being confined to their sheds on the farm. He explained that the state had amassed about 500 hectares of land to develop fields to take care of the livestock and to deter them from the customary wandering as earlier practiced by herders.
The Ekiti state leader disclosed that” the capacity of the dairy farm, is being put to use for the first time in the last 40 years, and that it has been expanded to run 24-hours operation in raising of cattle and production of milk.”
“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. As we have always said in the state, agriculture is the pathway to progress, particularly for us. We are an agrarian society.”
“The dairy farm will also demonstrate Nigeria’s capacity to be a milk-producing nation rather than being a milk-importing nation.”
Meanwhile, Hermann Kibler, the General Manager of the farm as well as Olabode Adetoyi, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security were also present in the company of the state government during his visit to the dairy farm.
Fayemi was full of admiration and praise for the efforts of administrators, staff, and all personnel involved in the achievements recorded so far on the farm. He also affirmed his enthusiasm in the private-public partnership arrangement between the state government and Promasidor to guarantee the sustainability and economic viability of the farm.
