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FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC solid and steady progress on backward integration in dairy development in Nigeria

FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC is Nigeria’s foremost dairy manufacturer with strong family brands which include Peak, Three Crowns and recently, Coast, Olympic and Nunu. Our mission is to nourish Nigeria with quality dairy nutrition.

Our Journey of Backward Integration in Nigeria

Incorporated in 1973, FrieslandCampina WAMCO started local production (manufacturing) in 1975. In 1984, FrieslandCampina WAMCO pioneered its first backward integration in dairy through the establishment of a dairy farm located in Vom, Plateau State. Since then, FrieslandCampina WAMCO has integrated all learnings and progressed into a more sustainable dairy value chain model named Dairy Development Programme which was launched in 2010.

11 Years of Dairy Development Programme (DDP)

FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s Dairy Development Programme (DDP) currently operates in various communities across the South West and Northern parts of Nigeria covering Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Kwara and Niger States respectively.

The DDP focuses on working with pastoralists, small holder dairy farmers and commercial farms, with support from various partners such as IFDC-2SCALE, Bles Dairies, Wageningen University, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Through the Dairy Development Programme, local farmers are supported in the production of milk (yield per cow improvement), improving milk quality and hygiene, feeding, breeding and farm management. The locally sourced milk from these farmers is collected through own Milk Collection Centers (MCC) which are 28 in total, then transported to the WAMCO processing facility in Lagos and processed into Yoghurt and recombined products in evaporated milk. This is line with our grass to glass philosophy which seeks to ensure quality from the grass the cows feed on to the glass of milk taken by our consumers.

21 billion Naira Investment in Dairy Development Programme Across Nigeria

FrieslandCampina WAMCO’s Dairy Development Programme with support from partners has continued to successfully deliver the objectives below among others:

Furthermore, in 2018, an FDOV project (Faciliteit Duurzaam Ondernemen en Voedselzekerheid), co-financed by the Dutch government focused on developing and supporting small holder farmers commenced. The project was executed with partners of FrieslandCampina such as Bles-Dairies, Wageningen University and Research Institute and IFDC-2SCALE, in order to achieve these objectives:

Partnership with the Nigerian Government

In 2019 the government intensified efforts on backward integration of the dairy sector. It assigned land to various dairy companies including FrieslandCampina WAMCO.

FrieslandCampina WAMCO entered into a joint agreement (MoU) with the government of Niger State concerning a dairy project at the Bobi Grazing Reserve in the State and signed up for a 40 year lease contract representing 10,000 hectares of land at the Reserve.

Our expansion plans necessitated the construction of a State-of-the-Art ready to drink Factory which processes Yoghurt from 100% locally sourced milk in Nigeria.

Setting the Record Straight

The attention of the Management of FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC has been drawn to various news publications of March 16 and 17 2021 respectively which presented the Company’s backward integration out of context. To put things in perspective and correct any erroneous impression made to the public, FrieslandCampina WAMCO Nigeria PLC provides the above facts about its Dairy Development Programme in Nigeria.

We affirm as follows:

FrieslandCampina WAMCO has indeed made great strides in its backward integration efforts. This is evidenced by our aforementioned achievements. Our backward integration journey which began in 1984 with pioneering of our first dairy Farm in Vom, Plateau State has since progressed into a more sustainable model named Dairy Development Programme which was launched in 2010. We reiterate that FrieslandCampina WAMCO and its Partners have invested over 21 billion Naira in the DDP as the first dairy company to champion backward integration and lead sustainable dairy development in Nigeria. We are inspired by our plans for 2021 and beyond.

In conclusion:

As a key stakeholder in strengthening food security in Nigeria and supporting the steady growth of the economy, FrieslandCampina WAMCO remains committed to leading the charge towards sustainable dairy development and human capacity building in the dairy sector.

Signed
Management

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