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A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE PROFITABILITY OF CHEESE PRODUCTION IN PLATEAU STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

One of the major food problems in Nigeria is the gross deficiency in protein intake, both in quantity and quality. The low protein intake has been responsible for reduced human productivity with high incidence of infant mortality, severe malnutrition and general weakening of human body which pre dispose people to disease, low health status and shorten life span (Mbanasor, 2008). Livestock production contributes about 12.7% of the agricultural GDP (Gross Domestic Product) in Nigeria and dairy industries can provide millions of jobs and generate about ₦300 billion monthly into the economy if appropriate technology needed to boost the sector is deployed (CBN, 1999; Umar, 2010).  Nigeria’s livestock resources consist of 14 million cattle, 34 million goats, 22 million sheep, 100 million poultry, 1 million horses and donkey as well as negligible number of camels (Umar, 2007).

Milk and its various products form the major portion of food for infant and adult all over the universe. It is a main source of animal protein in Northern Nigeria where it is mostly consumed in form of ‘Nono and Wara’. Due to the difficult conservation of fresh milk in developing countries, attempts of technological approaches were developed in order to transform into added value products (Dossou et al., 2006).

Milk from Zebu cattle is processed locally into cheese in Nigeria and other African countries ˝Wara˝ a white soft un-ripened cheese produced by the coagulation of milk protein is a popular food in some parts of South Nigeria. The cheese which is also produced in other West African countries notably Republic of Benin contributes to animal protein and mineral intake especially in rural communities (Alalade and Adeneye, 2006). However, a decrease in total number of cows and milk production has been observed in recent years. During the period 1990-2003, cattle stocks in Nigeria decrease from 105,694 to 100,355, which was a decrease of 5.06%. In spite of a 22.15% increase in milk production per cow, milk production decreased from 48,785 to 36,263 tons per year due to decrease in the total number of cows (FAO, 2003). Even though milk production per cow has increased in the last ten years in Nigeria, milk production per cow is still