By Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu
Abia is on an impressive climb in agricultural productivity as a result of its laudable agricultural policies and initiatives. The latest in the pack is its Poultry Cluster Initiative. This initiative is coinciding with a similar initiative in egg production in which the federal government has designated Abia as the focal state in the South-east.
The poultry cluster initiative is a response, according to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu, to the state’s findings that many young farmers are unable to sustain their interest in poultry farming. This is anchored on two grounds. One is the dynamic nature of the business, and two is that these youths lack proper understanding of these dynamics.
Another essence of the cluster is that poultry is characterised by diversity and these variables must be kept as constant as possible. Provision of adequate feedstock in the right quantity, quality and at the appropriate time, and how best the farmer is feeding the chicken and the output, constitute the variables.
There is the need to strike a delicate balance on how well and how best the farmer feeds his chicken and this is the gap the cluster tends to bridge. The delicate balance is very important in poultry business. The implication of starving birds for few hours is enormous. Also, poultry business requires regular vaccination and the availability of good water, and these provisions would be met in this noble initiative, including the provision of a pen.
The clusters which will be established in the three zones of the state would provide buildings, veterinary extension services, appropriate drugs, water, electricity and classroom. This is part of the youth empowerment strides of the state and reinforces the Chinese proverb of “teaching people how to teach rather than giving them fish.
In this arrangement, if the youths are empowered with either cash or day-old-chicks, they will be taking to the clusters. They will be taught the economics of poultry. These teachings will empower them with the knowledge of the quantity of feed required to feed a certain quantity of birds, administering the appropriate feed to the appropriate species, and getting the right stock for the right quality of feeds.
Besides, the arrangement is configured in a way such that even when the youths go away, the state will take over the feeding of and raising of the birds, so that the state will not lose everything. Whenever the youth returns, he will be shown the books kept by the state, and whatever is spent on feeds and vaccination would be removed while the youth receives his profit.
The cluster is designed to house a cold store and a processing line. If the farmer desires to sell his chicken, he is free to do so but if he wishes the cluster to process for him to go and sell, he would be allowed to do so. There are three significant things the poultry would achieve. One is that it would minimise losses and casualties. On the other leg, it would sustain the interest of youths in poultry farming by bringing them together. It would also improve the farmers’ skills in poultry farming and provide the ladder to Abia’s climb to an agricultural hub.
The Abia Poultry Cluster Initiative is of significant interest, the disclosure made by the National President of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Dr. Ayoola Oduntan, during the association’s visit to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, in Abuja recently, revealed that the poultry value chain has contributed among others over 25 per cent of the Agricultural GDP of the Nigerian economy with a current worth of US $8 billion (about N1.6 trillion).
Abia State is also extending its frontiers to starch processing. God willing and other things being equal, the state’s cassava programme will be launched this year. The governor said that the “unique thing about our cassava programme is that we have taken into cognisance of our land holding challenges because we are small land holders.”
In Governor Ikpeazu’s words, “We want to see how we can get the buy-in of the average village woman, so that if you cultivate a few plots, we will reach an uptake agreement, first by providing you with the right cassava stems (Protein A stems) and then following up in your farms. The villagers or local woman can register. When they take out the ones they want to use for the table, the other ones government can uptake and process into starch.”
It is projected that in few months ahead Abia would procure pieces of equipment for starch production. The agro-industrial area is the Ubani area where the Ubani Ibeku Modern Market is situated. The estate is already acquired and the project would be private sector driven.
Consequently, in few years ahead, Abia would add to its feather, a hub supplying raw materials (starch) to pharmaceutical companies as well as starch-based food companies.
