The Ondo State government, through the State Livestock Productivity Resilience Support Project (Ondo L-PRES), in partnership with the World Bank and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security, has commenced training and empowering 34,000 farmers in boosting the production of poultry, pig, sheep, and goats.
The state Coordinator of the programme, Mr Olufemi Adeogun, disclosed that Ondo State is one of the 20 states of the federation selected for the project that would last for six years.
Adeogun said the L-PRES is a six year intervention of the World Bank through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security with the Project Development Objective (PDO) to improve productivity, commercialisation, and resilience of targeted livestock production systems and to strengthen the country capacity to respond to an eligible crisis or emergency in Nigeria.
According to him, the implementation of the project in the country has three value chains, namely: Poultry, Pig, Sheep, and goat, as reducing prices of the agricultural produce and animal products, including eggs, will be given priority.
The hike in the price of eggs, which is now at N7,000 per crate, is a source of worry for residents of the state.
He said the overall purpose is to ensure smooth implementation of the project in the state, by the Project Development Objective (PDO)and operational guidelines, as contained in the Project Appraisal Document (PAD)and Project Implementation Manual (PIM).
His words, “We have the establishment of five hectares of pasture demonstrated in Akure and Ondo State. The provision of the anthrax vaccine was for the cows, pigs, sheep, and goats. Establishment of farmer fields shockers in Akure, Ikare, and Okitipupa; ongoing construction of a cold chain facility at the Akure veterinary clinic.
“Profiling and cluster formations of potential project beneficiaries; Over 34,000 targeted beneficiaries that include poultry, pig, sheep, and goat farmers, and processors and marketers in the state; They were all formed into clusters and subclusters to benefit from the intervention.
Adeogun said the project was working on how to reduce the price of eggs by putting in place certain measures to boost egg production.
In her remark, the Permanent Secretary of the Ondo State Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mrs Foluke Tunde-Daramola, said the state government was doing a lot to tackle food shortage and enhance the production of livestock.
Daramola, who commended the operations of the Ondo (L-PRES), said, “Last Friday, grass choppers were distributed to the farmers, especially sheep and wood farmers, by the government.
She said, “The purpose of that grass chopper is to ease the work activities in cutting the grass for preservation during the dry season, which will make it easier for them and even for the animals to consume it without any difficulty.
