Ogun begins empowerment of poultry farmers

In its bid to increase food production and create employment opportunities for the teeming youths, the Ogun State Government has kicked off its Broiler Empowerment Program with the delivery of 54, 000 day-old chicks for 54 beneficiaries.

The Special Adviser to Ogun State Governor on Agriculture, Dr. Adeola Odedina, who led a team from the Ministry of Agriculture, while taking stock of the broiler birds at the Odeda Training Farm Institute, in Odeda, noted that the empowerment is based on Public-Private Partnership arrangement whereby the government provides necessary poultry infrastructure.

The team revealed that the Ministry of Agriculture is providing technical support for the project which was designed to meet the demand for poultry meat, reduce importation of frozen poultry products and on the other hand, create source of livelihood for young agripreneurs through cluster farming, noting that the expected output of between 216,000 to 324,000 broiler birds per annum would reduce importation of livestock products into the country, thereby increasing the State’s Internally Generated Revenue.

The leader of the team, Dr. Odedina said each beneficiary, within 42 days with 1,000 birds each, would earn a minimal profit of about ₦130,000 per cycle of production, noting that there is the option of buy-back as off-takers like Amobyn Farms Limited, would mop up all birds produced through a financing window by the Bank of Industry and Farmermoni Loan Program for Agriculture.

He further submitted that the success of the pilot phase will lead to replication in other two senatorial districts of the state, engaging over 500 agripreneurs with an estimated output of over 800,000 broiler birds per annum.

Credit: P.M News