The projected Igbeja Snail Village is to be a 100,000 square meters snail breeding facility to cluster snail farms in a single area, with an output of at least 2.6 Million kg of snails per annum.

Speaking at the signing of the agreement, in Ibadan, at the weekend, founder, FarmKonnect Nigeria, Mr Azeez Oluwole, avowed that the Igbeja project, upon completion, is expected to be the largest snail farm, in terms of output, in Africa.

Oluwole added that the project, set to take off in November, is expected to create a trade volume in excess of N5billion per annum and make Nigeria a major snail exporter by 2023.

“Igbeja Snail Village is an agricultural real estate project in which multiple persons can collaborate to own snail breeding facilities in the place.

“The concept is the clustering of projects in an area with the view to creating glamour around such projects as well as opportunities for the stakeholders to leverage on administrative operational costs and procedures.

“Apart from its important roles in the nutrition-focused agricultural value chain, Igbeja Snail Village will also create over 1650 direct good paying jobs, and open up other areas of investments in Hospitality, Tourism, Arts and culture, Education as well as Real Estate,” Oluwole explained.

He reiterated that other opportunities that could be explored by residents of Ekiti State if the government would fully encourage youths’ involvement in agriculture by creating the enabling policies and providing adequate support.

Speaking, President, MODACS, Mr Babatunde Gbadamosi, emphasised the importance of cooperatives investing in the agricultural sector.

He also pointed to the ability of cooperatives to harness funds and embark on impactful projects in agriculture, thereby creating more jobs and other opportunities for youths in agriculture.

Source: The Guardian