Oke-Aro pig farmers seek govt. support to save farm from collapsing

The President, Oke-Aro Pig Farm Estate, Lagos, Mr Adewale Oluwalana has appealed to the Federal and state governments to provide loans to pig farmers in order to resuscitate the farm.

Oluwalana told newsmen on Wednesday in Lagos that the pig farm estate urgently needed government support to prevent it from collapsing.

He said that members of the pig estate lacked the finance to rebound from the loss recorded in 2020 following the outbreak of Africa Swine Fever (ASF) on the farm.

Oluwalana said that during 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, animals worth over N7 billion died following the outbreak of ASF.

He said that ASF was no more but the farmers were still struggling to resuscitate their businesses.

Oluwalana said that various appeals had been made to governments without much intervention provided.

“We are still appealing to them to hear our cry and save the biggest pig farm estate in the world from total collapse,” Oluwalana said.

He added that the farm had very few pigs left and efforts were on to increase the population through procreation.

“Government should come to our aid, we need loans that we will be able to pay back in due time,” Oluwalana said.

The president said that many farmers had abandoned the farm because of the loss recorded in 2020.

“Our expectations in 2021 are to fully recover from the losses and surpass where we were before the outbreak but we cannot do it alone.

”We will need government’ support to achieve this,” he said.

Oluwalana also called on private investors to invest in the piggery value chain and explore the opportunities available.