The Nigerian Government has failed to end the importation of milk into the beyond the 2020 deadline it gave, this is just as figures from the National Bureau of Statistics has revealed that in the first three months of 2022, Nigeria spent N27,664 billion on milk importation.
According to legit.ng, NBS stated this in its latest Foreign Trade Statistics published on its website.
According to the report, Nigeria’s milk import in the first quarter of 2022 was from four major countries.
The latest number further put a dent in the federal government’s moves to ensure self-sufficiency in the production of milk in 2022.
This is despite according to the Food Organisation of the United Nations Nigeria has a population of (76 million), sheep (43.4million), and cattle (18.4 million).
READ: Africa: Redefining Milk in the Nigerian context
In 2020, Sabo Nanono the Former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development stated that the federal government was set to ban milk importation by 2022 due to efforts put in place by the ministry for the availability of resources for local production.
He added that the move would be actualised through the Agro Processing Productivity Enhancement and Livelihood Improvement Support Project (APPEALS) which would lead to a N600bn loan support to farmers across the country.
Countries Nigeria imported milk from In the NBS report, it is indicated that the bulk of milk importation and related products were from Ireland at N16.1bn, followed by Malaysia at N5.5bn, Germany at N4.8bn and France at N1bn.
