Getting milk from farm to table takes intentional partnerships and initiatives within local communities that often go unnoticed. However, the efforts made across pastoralist groups and dairy farmers have supported the nation's agricultural productivity and local production, whilst creating opportunities for grassroots participation in Nigeria's agricultural ecosystem.
Within the dairy industry, farming communities navigate the agricultural ecosystem by leveraging cooperatives to facilitate productivity and commercial equity. In societies with infrastructural and resource gaps, these cooperatives are vital for sustainable community development, fair wealth distribution, financial inclusion, as well as social mobility and well-being.
Earlier this month, the International Day of Cooperatives' theme of Building a Better Future for All, put a spotlight on the essential role of cooperatives in providing diverse solutions to complex societal issues such as discrimination, social inequality and injustice, sustainable impact, and economic growth. In alignment with the UN's Sustainable Development Agenda, cooperatives across the globe continue to offer timely solutions that answer to the zeitgeist and collective needs of local communities. In Nigeria's agricultural sector, one of such cooperatives making impact within the dairy sector is a women-led dairy cooperative, The Luumo Kosam cooperative, which was created with the aim of achieving goals outlined in SDG 5 - gender equality and empowerment for women and girls.
Research shows that women account for almost half of the agricultural labour force in sub-Saharan Africa and are estimated to contribute 60-70% of the total labour needed to boost commercial outputs - which makes a strong case for the holistic inclusion of women within the agricultural sector. Although Nigerian women fill significant roles in traditional pastoralist dairy farming by milking the cows and hawking the milk, there was a lack of ownership and opportunities for women to actively participate in the commercial dairy value chain due to socio-cultural drivers.
Through the Milky Way Partnership and the implementation of cooperative processes by leading dairy players, The Luumo Kosam cooperative (located in Chukun, Kaduna) was birthed out of identified gender-specific gaps in the Nigerian agricultural and dairy communities - such as unemployment, financial inclusion, and self-sufficiency. With a focus on capacity building and increased local production, dairy players and their partners, developed the Milky Way Partnership to foster job creation and women empowerment opportunities that drive sustainable growth amongst farmers.
"We used to hawk milk. We don't anymore and my children go to school now."
A key achievement from the Milky Way Partnership has been the democratic election of 31 women to formal positions within new cooperatives in the Damau Household Milk Farm Project - an initiative that aims to settle 1,000 nomadic farmers and establish well-serviced dairy communities with essential social, health and infrastructural facilities. Supported by the notion that gender gaps in agricultural productivity disappear when access to productive inputs are equalized, the cooperative elections drove women's full involvement in the governance of farm communities and opened opportunities for their financial inclusion and independence.
"Women are fully involved in the activities of the cooperative; we are consulted and are part of the decision making."
Another impactful outcome is that majority of women in the Luumo Kosam cooperative have acquired necessary resources on increasing milk quality and animal welfare in partner-led capacity building sessions and workshops that helped develop their business acumen. 5,365 women in the traditional pastoralist communities - made up of farmers, extension agents, milk collection centre managers, and livestock specialists - unlocked a sense of ownership and access to multiple streams of income through dairy farming and new skills acquired. For women in local communities, milk is not just a commodity, but a source of social mobility and improved household income that supports their children's education, nutrition, and health.
Cooperatives like the Luumo Kosam, formed with an increased focus on female representation and community inclusion, underscore the need for industry-wide collaboration to achieve sustainable development goals and desired socioeconomic impact.
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As Nigeria's agricultural and dairy sector goes through several reforms and value additions to drive investment, increase production and secure growth, grassroots initiatives, like those under the Milky Way Partnership, remain foundational for sustainable development across the nation.
With a more inclusive commercial dairy sector, Nigeria can strengthen its self-sufficiency, accelerate sector growth and address fractures in the local dairy value chain, for the purpose of boosting local milk production. Beyond agricultural productivity, supporting female and gender-balanced farming cooperatives, empowers women and communities with increased access and income-improving opportunities - which are necessary for building a better future for the sector and its stakeholders.
Sigurdsson is the Senior Manager, raw milk supply and production at Arla Foods
