The Anambra state government has empowered resident farmers with poultry assets such as birds, feed, drinkers, feeders, cages and apiary kits for producing pure honey in order to revolutionize agriculture in the state.
Jude Nwankwo, program manager of the Anambra State Agricultural Development Program (ASADEP), disclosed this at the program’s Awka headquarters, within the Ministry of Agriculture.
He said the state government’s gesture was meant to encourage more people to go into agriculture, thus ensuring food security.
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The ASADEP boss noted that Governor Willie Obiano should be applauded for giving the people what he described as bread of life to avert hunger in spite of the coronavirus pandemic.
Nwankwo shared that the state government has been touring various local governments for the distribution of cassava stems, fertilizers, lime, certified seeds, maize, and rice, to name a few, stressing that the purpose of the free input distribution to farmers was to defeat hunger, the COVID-19 pandemic notwithstanding.
The Nigerian poultry industry at the moment is bedeviled by enormous problems that hinder its growth and the marketing of its products and inputs
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Among these problems are lapses in government policies, insufficient marketing and production information, the high cost of feed ingredients, a lack of government funding, a lack of credit facilitie, and poor roads and road networks, all which are part of a greater issue the government is working to resolve.
The ASADEP program manager also disclosed that farmers in the state were to benefit from a forthcoming Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme , meant to engage women and youths in fishery and rice production respectively.
Nwankwo maintained that while the state is playing it safe and observing all COVID-19 directives, it is working equally towards food security for all and sundry, as is made evident through its continuous support to the agricultural sector.
