Nigeria don dey import dairy cattle from Denmark as dem wan double di milk wey dem dey produce for di next five years. Dis na part of di plan to reduce di amount of milk wey dem dey import, wey dey cost di kontri $1.5 billion every year, Livestock Minister Idi Maiha tok on Monday.

Even though Nigeria get one of di biggest cattle population for Africa, di milk wey dem dey produce na only 700,000 tonnes every year, but di kontri dey consume about 1.6 million tonnes yearly.

Dis gap mean say Nigeria dey import about 60% of di milk wey di pipo dey use.

“Our plan dey big but e fit work; we wan double di milk wey Nigeria dey produce from 700,000 tonnes to 1.4 million tonnes every year for di next five years,” Maiha tok.

Low-yield breeds

Maiha tok say di cattle wey dey Nigeria, wey pass 20 million, na mostly low-yield pastoralist breeds.

One Nigerian farm don already import more than 200 heifers from Denmark, and dem dey grow di herd through intensive breeding, Maiha tok.

So far, dem don register eight new pasture species, di first one for 48 years, and dem don launch national strategy for animal genetic resources with di help of Food and Agriculture Organization, Maiha add.

“With di 20.9 million cattle, 60 million sheep, and 1.4 million goats wey we get already, we no dey start from scratch, we dey build on wetin we don already get,” Maiha tok.