Nigeria approaches Netherlands for bumper food production


 The Head of the Netherlands Representation in Lagos, Mr Michel Deelen, has said that the Nigerian Government had approached his home government for assistance in boosting its food production.
Deelen, who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said that the Minister of Agriculture and Natural
Resources, Chief Audu Ogbeh, had recently invited the Netherlands representative in Nigeria for a discussion on the issue.
The Envoy, who lauded the minister’s initiative, expressed his government’s readiness to share its knowledge in agricultural development and expertise with Nigerian farmers in the years ahead.
``The Netherlands, as the world knows, is the world’s largest exporter of agricultural products.
``And we have always focused on agricultural development with Nigeria, because we have the expertise in agricultural development.
``We recently met with the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources, who had asked us to assist Nigeria in field dairy production, seed production and other logistics,’’ he said.
Deelen said that his government was looking at the possibility of assisting Nigerian farmers in upgrading their milk production systems.
The Dutch official said that some experts from the Netherlands had been invited to come and look at the prospects of assisting Nigerian farmers in milk and fish production.
Deelen said that a Dutch company had recently opened a fish production factory in Ibadan, adding that more of such companies had also indicated interest in coming to Nigeria.
``We are really ready to assist the smaller Nigerian dairy farmers, as well as the bigger farmers in the production of healthy and quality dairy products for Nigerians.
``We also looking at the possibility of cross-breeding Nigerian cows with Dutch cows, to boost their milk production capacities,’’ he added

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