The Edo State Government has given out 125,000 chicks, feeds and vaccines, among other support facilities, to 158 poultry farmers, in the pilot phase of the state’s poultry production scheme.

According to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security Programme, Prince Joe Okojie, the gesture was part of Governor Godwin Obaseki’s promise to the poultry farmers through the scheme, in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He said the distribution of the day-old-chicks, feeds, and vaccines among other materials to the farmers across 11 locations in the state, marks the first phase of the Edo State Agripreneur Programme for Animal Husbandry.

Okojie said some of the farmers, who are grouped in clusters, received as much as 500 birds, while others got about 1,000 birds distributed according to the capacity of their pens.

He added that through the CBN’s Commercial Agriculture Credit (CAC) scheme, some of the farmers received loans at nine per cent interest rate to support their production, noting that the Agripreneur Programme has so far provided support to Fem Farms Cluster, Osaretin Cluster, Ubah Cluster, among others.

The programme is being implemented by the Obaseki-led administration with support from the CBN and is aimed at ensuring food security and wealth creation in the state.

One of the beneficiaries and leader of Fem Farms Cluster, Francis, said: “I have been in this business for about 28 years and this is the first time I am experiencing this kind of initiative by a government, which is laudable.”

SOURCE: GUARDIAN