The U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC) recently held workshops for leading Nigerian feed millers to help implement best production and storage practices and promote the quality and reliability of U.S. corn and corn co-products. Photo credit: USGBC.
Last week, the U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC) organized a technical workshop with key end-users in Nigeria to promote wider adoption of U.S. distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and corn fermented protein (CFP) use in animal rations by highlighting recent trial data and discussing overall best practices of grain storage.
“The Council has identified an opportunity to expand its influence and effectiveness in the Nigerian market to improve exports of U.S. corn and its co-products by providing direct training and education to importers and end-users there,” said Mohamed Salah Bouthour, USGBC deputy regional director for Africa.
Bouthour was joined by USGBC Administrative Assistant Meriam Ben Saad, USGBC Consultant for Nigeria Sofela Sofolabi, USGBC Nutrition Consultant Alaa Badr and Iowa State University Manager of Operations Antony Ewing.
The program consisted of a series of one-on-one technical sessions with three leading feed millers, allowing the Council to tailor training sessions to the specific needs of each end-user and enhance their understanding of the advantages of U.S. DDGS and CFP.
First, the Council’s delegation toured the end-user’s facility and provided a technical assessment of its capacity to integrate U.S. DDGS and CFP and the resulting potential benefits. The team then presented an overview of feed manufacturing best practices and other optimizations to maximize results from input products.
The delegation also demonstrated examples of feed formulations incorporating U.S. corn and corn co-products to prove their viability and train stakeholders to adopt the formulations in their operations.
Finally, the Council organized a conference in Lagos and invited more than 35 key local feed millers to learn more about Council activities. U.S. Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service (USDA FAS) Agricultural Counselor in Lagos Christopher Bielecki and other FAS staff joined the conference to discuss USDA resources available to help the Nigerian feed industry through trade relations with U.S. producers.
A series of additional speakers highlighted the availability and added value U.S. corn and its co-products can provide in a variety of applications and the Council took the opportunity to share results from recent feed trials incorporating U.S. DDGS.
“In continuing to build a strong relationship with Nigerian feed millers by providing training and additional resources, the Council will play a major role in promoting U.S corn and its co-products in the region,” Bouthour said.
“Enhancing end-user outputs will improve the lives of consumers and the health of the local industry while generating consistent demand for U.S. agricultural products in one of the most populous countries in the world.”
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