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The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh has raised alarm over the possible scarcity of beef and Dairy products in the country. The Minister who raised the concern at a meeting with members of the Governing Councils of the three Federal Universities of Agriculture Abeokuta, Makurdi and Umudike blamed the projection on the increasing consumption of beef and dairy lamenting that the corresponding production was low.

He disclosed that Lagos alone consumes 6, 000 cows daily followed by Abuja, Rivers, Abia, Imo, Oyo and Kano. He maintained that if concerted efforts were not put in place to bridge the disparity, the nation would soon experience scarcity of beef and dairy.


“We are consuming more cows than we are calving. Lagos State alone consumes 6,000 cows per day. Add the figure from Rivers, Abia, Imo, Oyo, Kano States and FCT, it might not be long before we run out of beef”


The Minister also lamented that the local breed of cows in the country produce less than a litre of milk per day, making it the least in the world. He said the development was worrisome since the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the country requires 1.5bn litres of milk annually. The Minister further explained that due to this gap, the government was spending huge funds to import powdered milk without huge nutritional value.


Chief Ogbeh appealed to the Universities to wake up to their responsibilities by teaching the people artificial insemination and other methods to address this impending national disaster. He also blamed the low production of dairy by low breeds on undernourishment and grazing system.


“In East Africa, they achieve 15 litres, some 20 litres. In Europe, they achieve 50 litres. The secrets are breeds and nutrition. Here, the roaming cows look lean, with poor meat quality. Cows are not meant to march around. They are not horses,’’ he said.

 

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