Olam Agri is expanding its Nigerian animal-feed business into cattle production with the launch of its ‘True Value’ beef and dairy cattle feed, building on its $150 million investment in Nigeria’s animal-feed and poultry value chain as the company targets a livestock market with tens of millions of cattle, sheep and goats.
The expansion could unlock new investment in commercial feedlots, meat processing, dairy production, cold-chain logistics and livestock transportation as the Federal Government seeks to move Nigeria’s livestock industry towards more productive and commercially organised value chains.
Nigeria has one of Africa’s largest livestock populations, with the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimating about 55 million cattle, 139 million goats and 65 million sheep. Yet productivity remains constrained by inadequate feed, weak infrastructure, animal-health challenges and underdeveloped processing and marketing systems.
Mukhtar Idi Maiha, minister of Livestock Development, said at the product unveiling in Kaduna on Wednesday that access to affordable and nutritionally balanced feed was fundamental to raising livestock productivity and developing a commercially viable beef and dairy industry under the government’s Livestock Economic Advancement Programme (LEAP).
‘When concentrates are properly combined with quality fodder, clean water and sound animal practices, they improve feed conversion, accelerate weight gain, shorten finishing periods and enable farmers to bring healthier and better finished animals to the market,’ Maiha said.
The minister said the government was also developing processing infrastructure to strengthen demand for commercially finished livestock, noting that groundbreaking had been completed for two modern abattoirs, including an Abuja facility designed to process 1,000 bulls and 3,000 small ruminants daily.
Maiha said the policy shift from transporting and trading live animals towards slaughter and processing in modern facilities would create opportunities across feedlots, meat processing, cold-chain logistics, packaging, branding, transportation and exports.
For dairy producers, he said, balanced cattle concentrates could raise milk yields, improve animal health and reduce production costs per litre, while strengthening the supply of raw milk to domestic processors.
Sharad Gupta, president and global head of Integrated Feed and Protein at Olam Agri, said the cattle segment represented the company’s next frontier for investment and impact, particularly in Northern Nigeria.
He said the new product was aligned with LEAP and would support efforts to make livestock production more productive and internationally competitive, but stressed that government policy and private-sector execution would be required to transform the sector.
Olam Agri’s existing Nigerian operations provide the platform for the expansion. The company invested $150 million in animal-feed facilities, poultry breeding farms and a hatchery, with facilities in Kaduna and Kwara inaugurated in 2017.
The company says its Nigerian operations now produce more than 800,000 tonnes of poultry feed annually, while its Ilorin aqua-feed plant has capacity of more than 150,000 tonnes annually, highlighting the scale of its existing animal-feed business before the move into cattle nutrition.
The cattle-feed launch consequently takes Olam Agri beyond its established poultry and aquaculture markets into a ruminant segment where better nutrition could support faster weight gain, shorter production cycles and higher returns for commercial livestock producers.
Gupta said Olam Agri would focus on scaling the True Value product and working with farmers to improve productivity and incomes, with technical details from product trials expected to be released by the company’s technical team.
Maiha urged the industry to strengthen standards covering feed composition, safety, labelling, storage and quality assurance, while calling for closer integration among fodder producers, crop farmers, feed millers, researchers, financial institutions and livestock producers.
‘Our cattle, sheep and goats possess considerable genetic potential, but that potential cannot be fully realised without adequate, affordable and nutritionally balanced feed,’ Maiha said.
Representing Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, Umar Ismail, special assistant on land matters, said Kaduna was positioning itself as a hub for food security, agriculture and industrialisation and had directed relevant agencies to support commercial agricultural investors.
He said Kaduna’s location between northern production centres and southern consumer markets, combined with its agricultural and livestock base, could help attract further private-sector investment in feed production, livestock processing and related value chains.