Livestock farmers in Ogun will benefit from a 500 million dollar lifeline offered by the World Bank to boost productivity in the livestock sector.
This was disclosed at a stakeholders’ meeting held on Tuesday in Abeokuta between officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the state Ministry of Agriculture and farmers on the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support Project (L-PRES).
Speaking at the meeting, Federal Director, Animal Husbandry and National Project Coordinator, Mrs Winnie Lai-Solarin, described L-PRES as a World Bank-assisted project focusing on poultry, cattle, diary, piggery and bee-value chains, to increase productivity.
Lai-Solarin also said that the project would ensure commercialisation and conflict resolution across the selected value chain.
She added that the purpose of the meeting was to articulate, plan and prepare the programme with farmers’ inputs, which would aid in creating an enabling environment for their businesses to thrive.
She, however, encouraged prospective beneficiaries to ensure best practices in the rearing of their animals.
The Director also enjoined them to focus on a particular value-chain and ensure that the criteria outlined by government were met so as to benefit from the project.
Earlier in his address, Ogun Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr Adeola Odedina, said that the state government would ensure that livestock farmers benefitted maximally from the projects, while expressing optimism that it would create more job opportunities.
In his remarks, Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Dr Dotun Shorunke, said that the state was chosen as the beneficiary of the project, based on the initiative of Gov. Dapo Abiodun.
Shorunke added that the project was people-centered, with a bottom-top approach, in order to acquire farmers’ inputs in the livestock value-chain to ensure that their challenges were considered, for the success of the project.
Speaking on behalf of other participants, Chairman, Meyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Alhaji Abdul-Mumin Ibrahim, applauded government for the initiative.
He said that they were excited about the prospects of productivity and commercialisation which the project would bring to their businesses.