The National Agricultural Land Development Authority has kick-started activities on the 10 hectares farm estate in Dasamu village, Yobe, to engage 150 youths on poultry.
The Executive Secretary, NALDA, Mr Paul Ikonne, made this known on Sunday in a statement issued to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
According to him, when he inspected the ongoing construction work at the facility, a total of 30,000 birds had been made available for the poultry farm in the estate.
He explained that the poultry segment of the farm estate, which was purely for the reproduction of eggs in commercial quantities, would serve not just the state but many parts of the northern region.
Ikonne said, “This farm is purely poultry for egg production, the type of eggs we will be producing here will be reproductive eggs not the types that you just consume.
“These ones will go into the incubator for the reproduction of other birds. That is the advantage of this poultry farm. We are bringing eight incubators like what we have in Daura, Katsina State.
“The incubators will be used to hatch our eggs, as well as for us to keep reproducing and to feed other farms from this place, including farms that are within and outside the state.
”The NALDA boss said President Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the agency to use the poultry farm to engage youths in the community, adding that the facility would also produce meat.
“So our intention based on the President’s directive is to engage the community because this project is community-based. It belongs to this community,” Ikonne stated.
He added, “NALDA’s intention is to empower these youths and encourage them to go into agriculture and at the end of the day we will also produce chicken for meat.
“We are looking at engaging 150 youths from within this community and they will be trained on how to not only manage the birds but will also receive training on other farm practices in animal production.”
Ikonne said at every period of harvest, the layers would go out and another set of layers would come onboard.
He said, “But the uniqueness of this farm is the production of reproductive eggs. We have 30,000 birds already in store.”
The statement explained that the facility would have segments for rearing goats, as well as locations for cultivating crops.
“We are bringing in the goat pen, which makes it more inclusive because we are also using it here for rearing a particular species of goat,” he said.
Ikonne said that NALDA had rice farms in two other locations in the state, adding that the tractors deployed for the farms were also being used to support farmers across the local government area.
According to the statement, the Manager, Dasamu Farm Estate, Haruna Gambo, said the facility had started receiving volunteers, while youths and other residents of the community had pledged to ensure the sustainability of the estate.
“We have started engaging youths in the community. We now have volunteers who assist in managing the birds. About 30,000 birds have been moved to the site. The community has also assured us of the sustainability of this project,” Gambo stated.(NAN)
