26th March, 2012
The Lagos State Government has unveiled a new Poultry Farm Estate in Ikorodu area of the state.
The estate is situated on 80 hectares of land and will be provided with supporting facilities, such as a 10,000-bird capacity mechanised broiler house, a 12-ton daily capacity feed mill and a 2,000-bird daily capacity poultry processing plant.
Commissioner for Agriculture and Cooperatives, Mr Gbolahan Lawal unveiled the new Poultry Farm Estate, located at Erikorodo, Ikorodu at the stakeholders’ meeting on the new poultry farm held in Agege area of Lagos, Southwest Nigeria last Thursday.
He said the new poultry farm estate was launched in May 2011 as a major step towards improving the food security status of the state.
“The importance of this administration’s food security goals cannot be overemphasized given Lagos’ population of over 20 million which represents more than 10 per cent of the total population of the country.
“The FAO and WHO recommends a daily consumption of at least 34g of animal protein per head. This effectively translates to over 500,000 tons of required protein consumption every day, assuming the population figures are held constant,” said Lawal.
“Of the sources of animal proteins, cattle, pigs and poultry constitute the major sources but only pigs and poultry could be domesticated in the state given its land constraints and other socio-economic considerations
“Apart from food security, the rearing of poultry and pigs in the state offers employment opportunities which equally explains government’s focus on these farming activities,” he added.
According to him, the specific objectives of the Erikorodo Estate were to revamp the poultry production business in the state, guarantee a steady source of animal protein to Lagosians, provide employment opportunities for the teeming youths along the value chain in Lagos and provide source of income for investors.
The commissioner stated that apart from government’s responsibility of creating an enabling environment, it would provide required support, such as veterinary services, extension services, linkages to inputs, finance and market utilities, stressing that enterprise promotion would be given a lot of attention to ensure sustainability of the estate.
Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Dr. Olajide Bashorun said in the 60’s and 70’s, Lagos had the highest density of poultry production in the country and that the state had since lost that position due to pressure on land, urbanization, encroachment of government’s farm land and unrestricted importation of poultry products.
He stated that the government had decided to cut its losses by ensuring that the few farming hectares that were left were now put into Agricultural uses, especially in the areas where the state had comparative advantage.
—Kazeem Ugbodaga