The Chief Executive Officer of Jofez Agro Limited, Mr. Joshua Ifezue, has urged the Nigerian government to establish a hatchery or partner with private investors to boost the poultry business in the state, as well as support local production of feeds.
He made the call during the fourth edition of the Annual Farmers Forum sponsored by his company, held at Emmaus House, Awka.
The event, with the theme “The Modern Poultry Farmer: Beyond Raising Poultry,” drew experts from within and outside the state.
Ifezue said he is open to partnership for setting up a hatchery in the state, noting that the lack of one poses a great challenge to poultry farmers.
While calling for a coordinated approach to promote the breeding of local fowls in view of its profitability, he highlighted the need to preserve indigenous breeds.
“We should also encourage breed of local fowls, we need to preserve what we have. An egg of a local chicken goes for between N300 to N400, while our normal chicken egg goes for N200″ he said.
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He also called on the government tto subsidize the price of poultry feeds, support increased local production of feeds, and subsidize maize, soya and other key ingredients used in feed manufacturing.
Describing the impact of the annual programme as amazing, he said it would be sustained to enable poultry farmers in the state succeed and avoid mistakes that could lead to loss of investment.
Earlier, the resource persons had tutored the Farmers on different areas of ppoultry business, management techniques, value addition as well as principles of successful production.
The poultry management experts further called on stakeholders to rekindle effort of providing viable and sustainable practices through effective farming to boost the sector.
Some of the participants hailed the organisers for staging the event which also featured free medical services.
