LAGOS, NIGERIA — The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) announced on Nov. 9 the launch of the IFIF Global Animal Nutrition Program 'Train the Trainer' pilot in Nigeria.

Supported by the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS), the training program based on the IFIF FAO Feed Manual of Good Practices for the Feed Industry, focused on increasing safety and feed quality at the production level by bringing together over 30 representatives from the Nigerian feed industries, who will act as multipliers by sharing the training with colleagues throughout Nigeria.

Developed by IFIF in 2015, the global animal nutrition program 'Train the Trainer' is designed to raise capacities for feed safety in developing regions by training key individuals who can then act as trainers on site within a country. This reflects IFIF’s mission to promote science-based solutions and information sharing for the feed industry, as well as stimulate the adoption of international standards and global equivalency.

“We are pleased that we were able to launch the pilot of the IFIF Global Animal Nutrition Program in Nigeria, a key player in agriculture in Africa, with the support of NIAS and the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,” said Alexandra de Athayde, IFIF executive director. “IFIF members represent over 80% of animal feed production worldwide and capacity development for feed safety is one of the key priorities for IFIF.” 

“IFIF now has the opportunity to evaluate the learnings from the pilot program in Nigeria, and based on that, take the program to other parts of the world to support, train and develop local feed industry to raise feed and food safety standards globally,” de Athayde said.

“Current laws in Nigeria are still weak and some are without enforcement powers,” Dr. Godwin Oyediji, registrar and chief executive of the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS), said. “But Nigeria is making steady progress on feed legislation to achieve international benchmarks for animal feed safety and human food safety. The industry is being mobilized to embrace the FAO/IFIF Code of Practice for Good Animal Feeding and other Codex standards on traceability, contaminants and HACCP.”