Obiano approves N13 billion for livestock farming

THE Anambra State Governor, Mr. Willie Obiano, has approved N13 billion (about $61 million) to bring investments into commercial poultry farming as part of his efforts to turn the state into a model for agriculture.

Signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the Governor’s Lodge with Lynden Integrated Farms Ltd for the establishment of a modern poultry production and processing farm in the state, Governor Obiano emphasised that agriculture remains the number one pillar in his economic agenda.

He said that the proposed ultra-modern poultry farm, which will be located on a seven hectares of land at Igbariam, would generate no fewer than 250 jobs during construction and 200 permanent jobs as well as 2,000 indirect jobs subsequently.

According to the governor: “At the moment, all the day-old chicks sold in the South-East are brought in from Oyo State. We want to change that. We want all the day-old chicks sold in this area to come from Anambra State.”

He further said that his plan was to approach agriculture in two areas – create a favourable and sustainable environment for commercial agriculture to thrive and to roll out programmes that will upgrade the class of machete and hoes wielding farmers to adapt to the use of new implements and improved seedlings.

During the signing ceremony, the Chairman of the firm, Mr. Clem Nwogbo, said that his company plans to develop a two-phased modern integrated poultry production and processing farm with day-old chicks and then subsequently upgrade its facilities in order to provide high quality meat, eggs from layers and fresh and frozen poultry meat from broilers.

“The first phase of this facility will comprise the setting up of 200,000 broiler houses with eight pens, 93,000 layer house with three pens, 33,000 pullets house with one pen, 2,000 birds per house slaughter house and a feed mill. We plan to double the production capacity of this farm by extending the broiler and layer houses to accommodate 400,000 broilers, 186,000 layers and 66,000 pullets after three years of full operation of the first phase,” Nwogbo further explained.

According to him, Lynden Integrated Farms Limited has the capacity to position Anambra State as the centre of excellence in poultry farming in the South-East and South-South.

Thanking Governor Obiano for creating the enabling environment that has encouraged investors to flock to Anambra State, Nwogbo explained that the firm was committed to commissioning the facility 15 months after the turning of sod on the proposed site.

He further revealed that the company plans to implement a robust CSR programme which will encourage the adoption of the best practices in poultry farming to small scale farmers, support educational initiatives in the host community and supply day-old chicks to farmers under and out-grower scheme.

Earlier, the Chairman, Anambra State Investment Promotion and Protection Agency and Traditional Ruler of Umuoji, Igwe Cyril Enwezor, said that the equity ratio of the company is 90 per cent for the investing company, six per cent for the state government and four per cent for the host community.