Kwara Goes Dairy: A Learning Trip

The Kwara Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ) Project team has embarked on a 3-day visit to Milk-in Barn at Fashola Farm, Iseyin in Oyo  State, to broaden horizons, widen the share of knowledge, expertise, and skills about dairy practice/management, to enhance the implementation of Agro-Industrial Hub (AIH) and Agricultural Transformation Centers (ATCs) to be cited in Kwara State.

Recall that the State Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, had earlier, in one of his interviews with journalists, revealed that, “When our agro-hubs are launched, Kwara will be a leading state in dairy production and beef production as well.”

It was therefore in pursuance of this vision at members of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) of Kwara SAPZ visited the Fashola Farm, to have sessions of discussions and s re desired knowledge, for a day at Milkin Barn, sitting on Four Hundred and Twenty Hectres of land, at Fashola Farm, Iseyin in Oyo State.

Speaking at the farm, the State Project Coordinator, Engr. Dr. Busari Toyin Isiaka disclosed that the Comra State Government’s commitment to practising agriculture from the perspective of commercialisation, thus leading to investment attraction and remedying food insecurity, will be an enormous asset for the state.

He noted that Milkin Barn, which has various dairy facilities and a considerable number of cows with a large pasture field to enhance milking, is a place to visit, for knowledge sharing, that will be useful for dairy management.

The Coordinator, who said that it is hopeful that the visionary government will embark upon a huge investment in agriculture to open up economic opportunities for the people, added that the agricultural development formula adopted by the present administration in the state is a vision par excellence.

He then commended the governor AbdulRazaq-led administration for its ingenuity and governance profundity in executing projects that will translate into socialand economic transformation for the state.

According to him, “Our visit to Milk-in Barn at Fashola Farm in Oyo State is to garner more practical skills, expertise, and knowledge required in the management of Agro-Industrial Hubs and Agricultural Transformation Centers. It’s our conviction that the two-day period of knowledge sharing and practical skill upscaling in livestock operation will be a remarkable experience for the team and a tip for effectiveness for the project implementation. In the implementation of the Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ ) Project, Kwara is livestock-focused. Hence, we are to concentrate on dairy and beef, though we will have crop production as an intervention.

“Visiting Fashola Farm may help us rejig our steps because there are similar operations which we can take home as lessons for positive adjustments”, he justified.

Receiving the Kwara SAPZ team, the Chief Executive Officer, Milkin Barn, Mr. Tony Jibunoh, said that investing in agriculture requires commitment and patience to yield huge gains, therefore

calling on the government to be financially committed to agriculture, for the nation to rise above economic hardship.

Jibunoh then affirmed that the involvement of Kwara State in the project of SAPZ will turn the state into an agricultural hub worthy of emulation.

The team was later conducted round  ious sections of Milkin Barn by the Manager, Mr.Oladele Ezekiel, these included mechanical workshop, hay store, ranch, milking parlour, milk collection centre, pasture field, barn among others, where equipment likẹ combined harvester, planter, tractor, hay cutter and so on were demonstrated before the visiting team. (kwaramoc.com.ng).