The Ekiti State Government and Promasidor Nigeria Limited (makers of Cowbell and Loya Milk) signed a joint venture agreement to resuscitate the moribund Ikun Dairy Farm. This thread by the Ekiti State commissioner of finance and economic development, Akin Oyebode, chronicles the process of resuscitating the farm, from the signing of the agreements up till the beginning of production. It contains tweets, pictures, videos and updates from 2019 up till a few days ago (2021).





Akin Oyebode @AO1379

Jul 23, 2019

Ekiti State and Promasidor agree on a roadmap to resuscitate the moribund Ikun Dairy Farm via a PPP. Today was a good day!

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1153697853803507714

Aug 21, 2019

One month after agreeing the roadmap on Ikun Dairy Farm, the MD of Promasidor led a team of experts to conduct a due diligence exercise on the farm. Started with a kick off meeting yesterday.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1164178249204883456

Aug 21, 2019

Started with a visit to the Onikun of Ikun. Community relations is a very important box you must tick to ensure capital is optimized. Loved his short and precise address.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXlbu6xY-SI

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1164182937954344963

Aug 21, 2019

The MD of Promasidor, my good friend, Anders Einarsson, will get a proper traditional title when this is done. Early days, but we hope this deal will close soon, and put people in jobs.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bxbQ9K4vKI

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1164184148325687296

Aug 21, 2019

Met a herder around the farm, his cows produce about 2 litres of milk per day, nowhere close to enough; also suffer from bouts of foot and mouth disease. These are the people ripe for an outgrower scheme. Sure you get the point.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnRX7NjpetE

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1164185272621264896

Aug 21, 2019

The serious work starts now. Understand what’s needed to run the farm; what products to make and who to sell to; build a business case; agree the shareholding structure. That’s before deploying capital and starting production. End

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1164185676797136896

Aug 21, 2019

Let me close the thread with this green picture. Might be coming to a poster near you soon.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1164256531312971776

Oct 11, 2019

Update on Ikun Dairy Farm and Promasidor’s investment. Site is now being cleared and farm houses refurbished (pictures coming soon) ahead of the big announcement. Shareholder agreement and a capital commitment. Super excited!

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1182588593027637248

Oct 12, 2019

Land clearing and farm house renovation in progress. Fingers crossed, planting will start next month. We need to close multiple issues: financing/shareholding, land prep, recruitment and infrastructure upgrade.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1183058360821866497

Nov 13, 2019

Here again with an update on our Ikun Dairy Farm. While we wait to formalise the shareholders agreement for the NewCo, we’ve started planting the feed for our cows. Progress!

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1194544678030528513

Nov 23, 2019

Cows should start arriving at Ikun Dairy Farm next week, main batch coming from Maiduguri. Not there yet, but slowly making progress.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1198300909316591617

Dec 12, 2019

Update on Ikun Dairy Farm: First batch of cows being herded into the paddock. Shareholders agreement will be signed next week. By March 2020, farm will be fully operational.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhrZuZiZVl8

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1205009794890895360

Dec 17, 2019

Interesting day visiting Ikun Dairy Farm with @kfayemi, the Promasidor Group CEO, Promasidor Nigeria CEO and other senior officials of both Promasidor and @ekitistategov.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1206972794317279232

May 14, 2020

Here we go. Update on Ikun Dairy Farm. Our cows are now stable, vaccinated and ready for insemination. We’ve also cleared the land and planting has started, and will eventually replace the feed purchased for the cows.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1260894387418136577

May 14, 2020

Our JV entity has also repaired the farm houses; procured equipment for the farm, and started hiring staff from the community. Time to show we can create wage employment from agriculture.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1260894953695334401

May 25, 2020

Tempted to apply for this, but I’ll pass. Please share, the preferred candidate might be on your TL.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1265014473775108098

Jun 9, 2020

Spent a few hours at Ikun Dairy Farm to inspect the progress. We now have 30 indigenous workers on the farm, expecting 150 more cows in a few weeks, with 40 inseminated. Forgot to take pictures of the farm houses, but I’ll be back there soon.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biuQdB9m7iM

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1270354161645883393

Jul 20, 2020

First milk at Ikun Dairy Farm. By Q1 2021, we expect to produce milk in commercial quantity.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1285102382930698240

Jul 20, 2020

For those rightly asking if the farm will be mechanized. The answer is clearly, yes. But we need to energize the location first, which is why I’m pleased we now have 500kVA transformer installed.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1285255618606125061

Nov 13, 2020

Update on Ikun Dairy Farm: 174 cows (104 pregnant); 5 cows producing 18 litres of milk/day. Next steps: importation of 400+ Jersey cows abs outgrower scheme to collect 1,500 litres of milk/day.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1327324519690874882

Dec 27, 2020

An exciting update. Our first batch of Jersey cows being loaded to the isolation centre in the US, ahead of a flight to Nigeria next year. We expect at least 250 cows on the first flight.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1343118741769494528

Feb 9

Got 41 of c. 250 heifers in today, due to their weight (mostly pregnant) and available cargo space. Hope to get the other 200+ in very soon. Another tiny milestone hit.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1359140121749180417

(Naptu2's comment. This caused a stir because one of the cows escaped and was wandering round the Murtala Muhammed Airport while workers tried to capture it).


Apr 22

Update: 250 cows arrived this morning, for onward delivery to Ikun Dairy Farm Limited; a JV between @ekitistategov and @PromasidorGroup. We now have 300 jersey cows, and almost 500 in total. We moo-ve!

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1385220828258840592

May 23

Popped into Ikun Dairy Farm yesterday with my friends. Our cows have started calving. We now have two female calves, the second was born only yesterday.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1396505598460665857

May 23

The best part is that 6 of our Jersey cows are now delivering 150 litres of milk per day, compared to 50 litres from 40 indigenous cows. Tells me we will soon hit the 1,000 litre/day mark.

https://twitter.com/AO1379/status/1396506592124837892

26

nice development

Very good.

2019-2021 thread?

Make Fayemi the president already. He's young and visionary.

Thumbs up

Nice one.

The core North do not want to go through this way of investing into improved breeds and in-farm fodder production but would rather believe it is their God- given right to destroy people's farms in the search for fodder and water.