Business Post Contributor
By Ashemiriogwa Emmanuel
The federal government said it expects to generate N1.1 million daily from the newly inaugurated farm estate in Yobe State, with about 150 job opportunities for youths in the state.
The Executive Secretary of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA), Mr Paul Ikonne, while speaking at the commissioning of the facility over the weekend, said about N400 million is expected to the raked from the birds’ segment yearly.
According to him, this aligns with the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari to make agriculture attractive for youths in order to make the nation consume what is produced locally.
He said the 20-hectare Yobe farm estate will yield about N8.16 million on a monthly basis from sales of day-old chicks, while the incubation centre will produce the parent stock which will lay eggs for the production of day-old boilers for sales, with the production capacity of 250,000 annually.
He noted that the youths from the immediate community are the first set of beneficiaries to earn from working in the centre, which in turn, will further boost economic activities.
“We are here today for the commissioning of this 30,000 bird capacity farm estate which is specially made to produce boilers.
“This centre is like a reproduction centre that will be producing our locally improved birds that will be distributed across the country in order to encourage our local breeds and maintain our old stocks,” Mr Ikonne said.
“We believe that it will reduce unemployment and this community has been enjoying peaceful coexistence within themselves, that this farm will increase that peace within them.
“I want to thank the host community, especially the President of the Senate for his support and the Governor of the state for providing us with the enabling environment to see that the desire of Mr President is achieved.
“NALDA integrated farm estates are meant to empower the community, to develop the land within the community, empower the youth, create employment and reduce hunger in our land,” he said.
Commissioning the project, the Senate President, Mr Ahmed Lawan, assured that “because of this project, Gasamu will be prominently shown in the Nigerian map, and this is something that is very important to us as a community.”
He, then urged the residents of the community not to lose this opportunity as there will be an increase in the number of poultry farms in the zone very soon.
