The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, says his bank was partnering some tertiary institutions on poultry production to improve the economy and create employment for youths in the country.
He spoke in Ilorin, Kwara State, at the inauguration of the University of Ilorin GGMAX Integrated Commercial Poultry Farm, where he said othat the CBN Tertiary Institutions Poultry Revival Scheme (TIPRS), which was a collaboration with several institutions in Nigeria.
It was targeted at boosting poultry production, creating decent jobs, fostering innovation in the poultry sub sector,he said.
He blamed the increase in smuggling of poultry products such as eggs and chicken meat on the country’s inability to meet up with its level of demand.
He added: “the country’s demand for eggs and meat is currently outstripping its current supply by 1.2Million Metric Tonnes and 140,000 Metric Tonnes for meat and eggs respectively,” Nzelu said, stressing that the deficit had driven the smuggling of unhealthy frozen chicken into the country.Over the years, this demand gap has driven the smuggling of unhealthy frozen chicken into the country,,” he added.
“To close this gap, the Central Bank of Nigeria has introduced various intervention schemes focused on boosting poultry production, creating decent jobs, and fostering innovation in the poultry sub sector.”
He disclosed that the multi-million Naira project would help to bridge the wide gap between the demand for poultry products and the supply caused largely by the ban on importation of poultry products.
Speaking, the Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Sulyman Abdulkareem, said that the poultry farm was expected to contribute to food security in Nigeria.
He said: “Construction started on the 30-hectare farm in the first week of February by the middle of May. The farm was in a state to receive, 17,000 layers.
“Today, the farm has fully built broilers’ pens with a capacity for 5,000 birds each and another two of similar capacity, under construction, to raise the total installed capacity to 40,000 broilers; four fully built layers’ currently housing 17,000 layers though with an installed capacity 33,000; a feed mill with an installed capacity of 5tons/hour, a semi automated Broiler Processing Unit (BPU) with a capacity to produce 1,000 birds/day, and a Manure Processing Unit.”