Nigeria's dairy sector struggles to stay afloat

The Nigerian government is looking for ways to diversify from oil reliance.

Global commodity prices have plummeted for the past 18 months affecting Nigeria’s oil exports which account for 70 percent of government revenues.

This has prompted the government to push more people to invest in the country’s agricultural sector in particular the dairy sector, which was once a source of employment.

Dairy processing in the country has been declining over the years and only few local companies are still open and they are struggling to stay afloat.

Farmers also have to cope with challenges of access to reliable power and modern machinery needed to improve efficiency.

Despite milk contributing about 61 per cent to the total industry revenue, there is still a wide gap between the production of local milk in Nigeria and demand which leads to a substantial amount of milk being imported.

Analysts estimate that Nigeria imports dairy products worth over $1.3 billion annually.