The Federal Government has announced its plans to intentionally enlarge the participation of women across Livestock Value Chains with the aim to transform the dairy industry of Nigeria, as well as, intensify economic opportunities for women and youth.
Idi Mukhtar Maiha, Minister of Livestock Development, made this known while speaking at the 2026 World Milk Day Conference held in Abuja. The event had stakeholders converge to celebrate the theme for the year ‘Celebrating Women’s Dairy Farmers: Promoting Fresh Milk Consumption for a Healthy Nation’.
World Milk Day is an international day instituted by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations to recognize the significance of milk as a global food. Since 2001, World Milk Day has been observed every 1 June yearly.
According to a Statement by the Federal Ministry of Livestock Development, Muhktar said: “There is going to be a deliberate effort by the Ministry. From dairy to poultry, piggery, rabbitry, beekeeping, beef production and fodder development, there should be a deliberate attempt to feminise all these value chains.
“No meaningful transformation of the dairy sector can occur without the inclusion and empowerment of women. We are committed to creating greater opportunities for women and youth through dairy cooperatives, skills development, milk aggregation systems, value addition and enterprise support initiatives.
“Improving the productivity of women dairy farmers requires more than policy statements. It requires deliberate investment in infrastructure, training, financing, technology, market access and inclusion within decision-making structures across the dairy value chain.”
The Minister also made known, the Ministry’s plan to empower “37,000” women and youth through “skills development and market integration”.
“Mukhtar further reiterated that the Ministry is advancing plans for a Women and Youth in Livestock Empowerment Initiative, designed to create economic opportunities for over 37,000 women and youth through skills development, enterprise incubation, cooperative strengthening, access to finance, technology transfer and market integration”, the Statement reads.
The Minister also unveiled the National Dairy Policy Implementation Framework “as a roadmap for accelerating local milk production and attracting investment into the sector; and disclosed plans to establish women-led milk aggregation and processing cooperatives to strengthen local value addition and improve access to processors and off-takers.”
