Victor EzejaLady Ranchers Cooperative Multipurpose Society Ltd has set out to invest in livestock production in different parts of Nigeria to boost domestic output and meet local demands for meat and dairy products.
Currently with a population of over 200 million, Nigeria has one of the fastest-growing populations in the world and is projected to nearly double by 2050. While the dairy sector is believed to play a key role in feeding the country’s population, local producers, however, cover only about 40 per cent of the current demand for dairy, making health and nutrition stakeholders call for significant investment in dairy farms.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelLady Ranchers Cooperative Multipurpose Society, set up in July 2020 by the Department of Cooperatives, Lagos State Ministry of Commerce, Industry & Cooperatives, as a commercial ranching business entity, has the vision and mission to contribute to achieving this goal.
The entity, which is the first coalition of women ranchers, as a cooperative society, in Nigeria, focuses on the production and distribution of naturally-raised cattle for hygienically processed and packaged meat and dairy products to meet the daily protein and calcium needs of the people.
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In an interview with Prime Business Africa, General Secretary of the group, Mrs. Edobong Akpabio, said it is a ranching investment business that would involve a lot of value chains in the livestock sector, including rearing of cow, goat, sheep, poultry, rabbit, and grass cutter, production of leather, and dairy products such as milk, among others.
Mrs Akpabio said the cooperative society has gotten a tentative approval for land in Ogun State, where the livestock production would kick off.
She revealed that the cooperative society also desires to create the ranching business in other parts of the country to reduce dependence on cattle herders for meat and other local dairy products.
She said the entity would also establish an abattoir to slaughter and supply meat to the market.
Ranchers Unveils Meat Shop in Lagos
While working on finalizing the kick off of the livestock farm, according to Akpabio, the cooperative has decided to open a meat shop in Lagos, called Lady Ranchers Meat Shop.
Located at the Eko Farmers Mart, Lagos State Government Secretariat, Alausa, the grand opening of the Lady Ranchers Meat Shop will take place on Thursday, 3 April 2025 (tomorrow).
Commenting on why the cooperative is starting with the meat shop, Akpabio said: “What we are doing now is to start from the supply side. As business people, we understand that a business first starts from the market. The supply side exposes you to the market and allows you to have that interface to understand the needs of the market and be able to provide for it.
“Before we go into production, it is important for us to establish the success of the supply side because that is what the production will need. So, the meat shop is the major part of that supply side.”
She said they have partnered with some farmers and abattoirs that are producing the kind of healthy meat they desire to supply to customers in Lagos, in order to establish integrity and confidence in their products.
Akpabio, who is a former chair of the Agriculture and Agro-Allied Group of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), emphasised that the meat shop will enable them to understand the market and be better prepared to meet the needs of the market when the livestock production eventually starts.
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Lagos State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya, will be the special guest of honour at the event, which starts at 11 am.
Speaking on expansion of the livestock production business to other parts of the country, the agribusiness expert said they would engage women in those regions who focus on investing in a value chain that has more comparative advantage in the area, given the market demands and natural endowments.
Akpabio underscored the potential impact of the ranching business investment in terms of cost and accessibility. According to her, the cost of transporting cattle and other livestock produced in the north to the southern part of Nigeria is high, coupled with the environmental impact of carbon emission, which could be reduced if livestock farms are spread across the country.
She said the ranching business would create more jobs across value chains in the livestock sector.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
