Anthony C. Mubiru

Yesterday, Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria posted on Twitter that Nigerians can now export cow bones duty-free to China. Under the comment sections, some Nigerians were asking the ambassador to tell them what they are using the cow bones for😁 Some were telling the ambassador to tell his people to come and setup the processing facility here in Nigeria, so they can create jobs. Funny people. I laughed at our inability to do simple Google search. As a livestock farmer and Agro commodities trader, I already know the uses of cow bones. And about building a factory here in Nigeria? Nigerians are the ones to do it, but sadly everyone is building hotels😁 Let me tell you a few uses of cow bones. Here are 4 major uses of cow bones you can mention in your content; ✍🏻Bone meal fertilizer: Cow bones are processed into bone meal, rich in phosphorus and calcium, used to improve soil fertility. They prefer this to fertilize their soil not the chemical sold to our rural farmers. ✍🏻Animal feed supplement: Processed bone meal can be used as a mineral supplement in livestock feed, especially for calcium and phosphorus. We use this for chicken feed, pig, and fish feed production. Verify the price per kg and you’ll be shocked. ✍🏻Gelatin production: Cow bones can be processed to extract gelatin, used in food, pharmaceuticals, capsules, and cosmetics. Just imagine the volume of cow bones wasting in your village? Pharmaceuticals companies are paying billions of dollars to buy it from those processing it. And I believe those Chinese companies will focus more on this. It is big money wasting away in Africa because we don’t know anything about value addition. ✍🏻Activated carbon / bone char: Burnt bones can produce bone char, used in filtration, sugar refining, and water purification. Pause here and think deeply with me. They use bone char for water purification in their country. But they produce capsules and sell to us for water purification😳 Let’s not blame them. We take responsibility. Now, let’s be honest. This is a golden opportunity for us. Let’s export the cow bones and cash out. Also, let’s learn how to process the cow bones locally and export the finish product too. If I tell you now that chicken feed producers in Nigeria import bone meal, you won’t believe. Research it yourself. A ton of bone meal is around $200 - $750 currently. Bro, just imagine earning over $200 from wastage thrown around our local markets in Africa. Business opportunity for you. Do your research and see how you can position to serve this market