The Managing Director, Arla Foods Nigeria, Mr. Peder Pedersen, has emphasized that milk remains one of the most nutrient-rich foods available as it stands to provide high-quality protein, calcium, vitamin B12, and other essential nutrients that support growth, development, immunity, and overall wellbeing.
Speaking at the World Milk Day in honour of female farmers, Mr. Pedersen called on the government and stakeholders to continue empowering women with opportunities, knowledge, and support, adding that empowering women will help build healthier families, stronger communities, and a healthier future for Nigeria.
The MD, Mr. Pedersen represented by the Senior Corporate Affairs and Communications Manager for Arla Foods Nigeria, Elele Ogunsanya, urged participants to visit the Choose Milk stand to get more information about the important milk.
According to him, “Across Nigeria and around the world women play an important role in agriculture, nutrition, and caring for families and communities. Very often, they are the quiet force behind the wellbeing of households and the strength of our food systems.
“At Arla, the connection to farmers is deeply personal because we are a farmer owned cooperative and among those farming families are many women, who play essential roles on farms, in dairy production, and in sustaining rural communities every single day. Here in Nigeria, we recognize the importance of empowering women within local dairy communities.”
Speaking further, the Managing Director noted that Arla Foods Nigeria continued to support capacity building and training for 1000s of local farmers, including women, in areas such as modern dairy practices, milk hygiene, animal care, and sustainable farming methods through dairy development initiatives and farmer engagement programmes.
“Every year, we open our farm up to students and farmers, industry experts to come and witness modern dairy practices. We also ensure that we offer internships to many students, primarily female students as we believe very much in empowering female students and women generally in the sector.
“The farm I am talking about is our state of the art Arla -Dano Farm in Damau, Kaduna state, the most technologically advanced farm in West Africa, producing over 3000 liters of milk daily and one of our cows produces up to 50 liters of milk every day. We believe empowering female farmers with knowledge and skills does not only strengthen livelihoods, it also strengthens families and communities.” he said.
Explaining the importance of milk, he emphasized that “The Choose Milk campaign” was created to help increase awareness and understanding of the nutritional value of milk and dairy in Nigeria through science based consumer education.
She said, “It is an important reminder that their work deserves to be seen, valued, and celebrated. And it is in that spirit that I would like to use this opportunity to briefly talk about an initiative that is very important to us at Arla Foods Nigeria; a consumer nutrition education campaign called “Choose Milk.” Co funded by the European Union and Arla Foods and managed by the Danish Dairy Board.
“Today, consumers are surrounded by so much information and misinformation about nutrition, particularly dairy nutrition. There and so many different “dairy” products in the market and not all of them are milk, even though they look like milk.
“What makes the Choose Milk initiative unique is that it is intentionally brand neutral. It is not about promoting one brand or one company. It is about promoting nutrition awareness and encouraging informed choices for healthier families and communities.
“We are proud that this campaign brings together stakeholders across government, healthcare, nutrition and the dairy industry because meaningful impact can only happen through collaboration.”
The Managing Director asserted that Arla Foods remain committed not only to providing quality dairy products through brands like Dano, but also contributing positively to nutrition education, farmer development, and public health conversations in Nigeria.
