Agriculture
THE Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), on Thursday in Abuja pledged to harness unexploited opportunities in the livestock subsector, particularly in the production and processing value chain.
Mrs. Umma Abubakar, the Director, Department of Animal Husbandry Services, FCTA Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat, made the pledge at a capacity building workshop for Diary Cooperative Groups in the FCT.
The workshop, which held in Bwari and Gwagwalada Area Councils, was organised by the FCT Agricultural and Rural Development Secretariat.
She said that the workshop was part of measures to reposition livestock farming in Abuja, adding that during the training pastoralists were exposed to hygienic ways of handling dairy products.
Abubakar assured that the secretariat would follow up trainees on the workshop to monitor their progress and provide them with necessary assistance as the need arises.
She said that the pastoralists, who were drawn from the FCT area councils were engaged in a series of training by a team of experts.
The director also said that pastoralists were exposed to efficient methods of hygienic milk handling with a view to improving the quality and market value of their milk.
She added that if applied, the methods would enhance the incomes of pastoralists to achieve better livelihoods.
“We trained pastoralists, who own 90 percent or more of the national herds of cattle and milk production in the country.
“Because, what we need to do is to enhance the way milk is produced and handled, so as to ensure that there is no contamination or adulteration.
“We have to ensure that we have the clean hygienic raw material, used to process the milk.
“And we are going to have a series of training in terms of production, handling and processing across the six Area Councils of the FCT.
“We are going to strengthen dairy cooperative groups so that they will aggregate milk, and pave way for private processors that are ready to uptake the milk from them.
“We have to train and give them the equipment for quality milk production and handling.
“We are starting with these groups because they produce the milk, and we want to improve the quality of the small quantity of the milk they are producing,” she said.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, Malam Lawal Adamu, described the training programme as timely.
He said that the programme would help to enhance capacities to improve and harness the potential in the livestock subsector. (NAN)
– Jul. 16, 2020 @ 17:45 GMT |
Tags: FCTA to harness unexploited opportunities in livestock sub-sector
