Edo State Government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Heifer International and Amo Farms Sieberer Limited, to build a modular poultry processing plant.

When completed, the plan would process 10,000 poultry birds daily.

The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Stephen Idehenre, said the state government is committed to making the state the biggest poultry hub in the country. “The essence of the MoU is to create a market for our poultry farmers. We have brought in poultry birds off-takers, which is Amo farms to offtake and process about 10,000 poultry birds per day. Most of those abandoned poultry farms will be revived because there is a ready market now.

“If we must grow the agribusiness, we must begin to find solution to the off-takers challenge we have in all the agricultural value chains.

The Country Director, Heifer Nigeria, Mr. Rufus Idris, said the initiative was designed to help smallholder poultry farmers earn a sustainable living income.

Idris noted that the project would increase access to premium market, finance and new technology for smallholder poultry farmers.

He said, “the project will improve productivity and sustainable livelihoods income for 500,000 smallholder farmers by 2030. The project will support market system actors to improve capacity competitiveness, resilience and bridge the demand and supply gaps.

“In this tripartite market system development partnership, the state government will provide the enabling business development environment…”

Idris explained that the project was being financed by Heifer International with support from Amo Farm to facilitate the setting up of a new modular poultry meat-processing factory in Edo.

“The new poultry factory would offtake broiler and noiler breeds of birds produced by hundreds of thousands of smallholder poultry farmers that are targeted as beneficiaries of the project,” he added.

The Group Managing Director, Amo Farms Sieberer Limited, Dr. Ayoola Oduntan, said the project would create a fair market opportunity for poultry farmers in the state and make it a poultry production hub in the Niger Delta region.

Oduntan noted that the establishment of the processing plant would have the capacity to process 10,000 poultry birds daily.