The Chief Executive Officer, Silagreen International Agro Development Limited, Michael Olusegun Akinruli, has said that Nigeria through their company has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Brazil through the University of Zebu Breeders Association (ABCZ), Brazil, The Educational Foundation For the 
Development Of Agricultural Sciences – (FUNDAGRI) and Associated Colleges Of UBERABA – FAZU to boost national food security through improved dairy production, especially cattle.
He added that the cooperation was facilitated by the company’s Brazilian partner – ZEBUEMBRYO Company.
He stated that the MOU is a strategic cooperation between Nigeria and Brazil moreso, in terms of cultural and scientific education transfer.
He added that it will improve skills of Nigerian graduates, and undergraduates as well as even involve specialization courses.
According to him, the beneficiaries will undergo structured courses that will sharpen their skills in cattle production and introduce them to new technologies and modern practices.
He stated that the technology transfer will be helpful to the newly created Ministry of Livestock Development.
Akinruli said: “We have done it in such a way that we’ve tailor-made the courses of the program. The courses will be short ones, and in categories of one-month, three-month and six-month, offered by this university in Brazil. It is going to be provided in a hybrid format. Part of it will be online from Nigeria and the students are now meant to come to Brazil to finalize the training. The university we are talking about is the University of Cattle in Brazil.
“In Brazil there’s the University of Cattle, where everything they do there, all the courses they offer, all the programs, are all around cattle nutrition, cattle genetics improvement and livestock generally.”
The CEO said the partnership will facilitate the exposure of Nigerian youth and farmers, even academia, to hands-on practical training.
He noted that the university is fifty (50) years old.
He added that it is a university on a farm and is one of the topmost in Brazil and accredited by all the necessary agencies.
He said: “It’s a big one for Nigeria because it will facilitate technology transfer, capacity building, specialization, as well as bring about an accelerated beef and dairy production in Nigeria.
“So, Silagreen Agro, is creating bridges and making things happen for our generation.
“We started out with nutrition and now we are talking about genetics and you may also wish to know that our company is the first to ever transfer embryos into our own cattle in Nigeria.”
He added: “Last month, we carried out the first embryo transfer into our cattle, and the news is everywhere in the public space. Thanks to our media handlers, but we don’t stop there, we also want the educational parts to be part of it. So, our focus is nutrition, genetic improvement and management.
“We don’t have data at all about our livestock, especially cattle. So Silagreen Agro, has just put together a huge database to improve the genetics of our animals. That is to help farmers with actionable insight and data to make them decide which animal to keep on their farms and which one to discard and not just keep all animals that are not productive. So that is how genetic improvement is done all over the world and Brazil is the foremost on this, I mean, it is the leading country when we talk about tropical zebu animals like ours in Nigeria.
“So, all of these are captured in this educational cooperation we have just signed with the university. We wish that the nation gets to know about it and I think it is a good one for Nigeria, especially for the new Ministry of Livestock that has just been created. This will also help in addressing food insecurity in our country?
“These are to guarantee food security because it has been projected that in 2050, Nigeria’s population is going to be about half a billion people. So, where do we get the animal protein (beef, milk and so on) to feed the population with. Therefore, if we don’t start by improving the genetics of our animals, if we don’t get our people well trained, and educated to support the livestock industry in Nigeria, then we will continue to be import dependent. Presently, we are import-dependent.
“The majority of our cattle come from Niger, Cameroon and neighbouring countries. We don’t produce what we eat. So, we must work on that.”
Chairman, Silagreen International Agro-Development Limited, Engr Dr Amos Aderemi Ayodele, called on the Federal, State and Local governments as well as agricultural organisations, entities, and companies in Nigeria to take advantage of this unique knowledge and technology transfer opportunity.
He stated that the collaboration with Brazil is very significant as Brazil is the largest beef producer in the world.
Ayodele said: “You may be wondering why Brazil? Of course, relevant entities such as government agencies or departments or ministries that are concerned with this line of trade know that in the entire world, Brazil is at the top when it comes to tropical dairy production.
“Interestingly, Brazil got cattle from India. But today, because it has developed tremendously this line of business for over nine decades, they have now become the number one exporter of tropical cattle genetics in the entire world.
“Our study of Brazil enabled us to know better that we have a lot of things in common especially in terms of tropicality, Zebu animals, etc. In order to be able to meet part of our national livestock needs, we in Silagreen Agro decided to take the bull by the horn, took the bold step with the aims to revolutionize the Livestock industry.
We are happy that the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Ministry, Departments and Agencies are creating an environment that is enabling towards attaining self-reliance in food production.
“Brazil has the same Zebu cattle that we have in Nigeria. So, the way they improved this Zebu cattle specifically for either beef or milk over this long period of time has shown that the same can be replicated in Nigeria within a short period of time.
“We have gone into that and interestingly, embryo transfer into cattle in Nigeria has never happened until SilagreenAgro came into the industry, and the very first one achieved.”
Technical Director, Silagreen International Agro Development Limited, Adeola Adesote said the MoU will address the lack of competency in the livestock industry in Nigeria.
He decried that one key deficiency of the livestock industry in Nigeria is competence, especially field competence in the management of ruminant livestock.
He said: “By livestock I’m trying to refer to cattle specifically. In cattle you could be into either dairy or beef production. If you look at what it is now in Nigeria, there is no speciality anywhere. Our animals are both poor in either milk or beef production, so there is no specialization that when you point at our indigenous breed of cattle, you cannot say it is a milk or beef breed. And also, what we do in Nigeria is to get our animals pregnant and when they give birth, we start taking the milk to drink, and at the end of the day when the animal is spent, it is slaughtered as beef, unlike what it is in other climes.
“The courses are going to be with specialized training and the three key areas in this training are nutrition, genetics and management. So, these are what we want people to be trained on and they can now go back to translate that competency to the workforce thereby bringing productivity and performance of cattle in Nigeria.”