CHEAP SUBSTITUTE ‘MILK’ exported from Europe into West Africa is hurting the region’s local dairy industry. A collaborative investigation by Noteworthy and Nigerian news outlet Premium Times into Irish dairy in Nigeria has found that large volumes of cheap European exports into West Africa have outcompeted local milk on price. This, according to NGOs and traders, has pushed many Nigerian dairy farmers out of business.
Daniyan Abimbola, a commercial dairy farmer from Ondo State in the southwest of the country, said this competition is the reason “some dairy farms are forced to shut down less than five years after they are established.” Our investigation examined the export of fat-filled milk powder (FFMP). Though butter and cheese exports are more valuable, FFMP is Ireland’s largest dairy export in terms of volume.
But, according to European Commission regulations, were it to be sold within the EU, it could not be labelled a milk product. The European Commission told Noteworthy that this product “can not bear the term ‘milk’ in their denomination” as according to EU regulations “milk products have to derive exclusively from milk”. PREMIUM TIMES delivers fact-based journalism for Nigerians, by Nigerians — and our community of supporters, the readers who donate, make our work possible.
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