The Ekiti State government has declared its readiness to become the best broilers producing state in the country, targeting 5,000 youth employment in the broiler production value chain. Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr Ebenezer Boluwade, disclosed this in Ado-Ekiti at the opening ceremony of the training of Ekiti youth in broiler production scheme and other stakeholders on good animal husbandry practices in poultry production.
Background of the scheme
According to Boluwade, the Ekiti State Broiler Production Scheme (EBOPS) started in 2023 with 20 participants at the livestock development centre (LDC), Erifun in Ado-Ekiti, with a stock population of 10,000 birds. The state government carried out massive renovation of rearing pens, warehouse, offices and residential buildings at LDC and made available feed, DOC, drugs, vaccines and anti-stress to promote independent indigenous entrepreneurs in poultry business.
Progress and expansion
Through the intervention, more six rearing centres have sprung up at different locations in the state, and the scheme has graduated over 200 participants in four sets of cohorts. Over 150,000 birds have been raised and sold within and outside the state. EBOPS has engaged teeming youths profitably in broiler production, hence the need to build capacity of the youths in the production value chain to minimise cost and maximise profits.
Future plans
Boluwade stated that the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) is making tremendous progress, positioning the state as a hub for poultry production in Nigeria. The state has been given clearance to establish a broiler processing plant that would eliminate the transportation of live matured birds out of the state for processing, which has its own business risk. The youth in EBOPS will be able to process their birds for value addition and increase profit margin. Three farmer field schools across the three senatorial districts have been established to give farmers on-field new innovation and training.
Training objectives
In this training, we are targeting about 500 youths. In total, our objective in the next three years is to have more than 5,000 of these youths. The whole focus is on management, covering the producer, midstream and downstream. In his welcome address, Permanent Secretary Ojo Ebenezer Babatope said the training on poultry-focused GAHP is designed to strengthen technical capacity of farmers, with particular emphasis on participants in the Ekiti Youth in Broiler Production Scheme. The government is implementing a 50 per cent subsidy on agro-inputs and land preparation activities, as well as strategic partnerships with private sector players such as Agbeyewa and YSJ Farms to drive investment and innovation.
Private sector collaboration
Lead consultant of Synergy Impact Consultant Ltd, Mr Abiola Salako, who partners the government on the training programme, said it is expected that participants would be able to develop their own farm. Participants are also being trained on the use of antibiotics, because if they produce unhealthy birds, it could affect human beings. Farmers could use organic acid and micro biotic.
