The Ekiti State Government has stated that it expects to generate 1.5 million jobs and target 200,000 farmers for commercial livestock through the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Enhancement Project (L-PRES).
Additionally, it stated that specific value chain projects, such as cluster creation throughout the state, would be commercialised, and livestock productivity and resilience would be increased.
At the five-day Training Workshop on Productivity and Technology Adoption Survey in Ado Ekiti, the state commissioner for agriculture and food security, Ebenezer Boluwade, made this statement.
L-PRES is a World Bank-supported project implemented across 20 federation states in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security.
The project is anticipated to benefit 1.43 million Nigerian farmers, 30% of whom will be women.
The project aims to increase cattle productivity while strengthening their resistance to threats like illness and climate change.
The project focuses on enhancing livestock productivity and making livestock more resilient to various challenges, such as disease and climate change.
Mr Ebenezer, represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Ebenezer Ojo, said the state focuses on four selected livestock value chains: dairy/beef, sheep/goat, piggery and poultry (broiler and eggs production).
He had urged all the relevant value chain actors/players to work in synergy with other ancillary agribusinesses to ensure sustainable food security and peaceful co-existence in Ekiti State.
The livestock subsector is wide and presents promising production opportunities in our state. The Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) Project supports measures to help livestock farmers and ancillary agribusinesses mitigate and increase adaptive measures to modernise agricultural practices and resilience through improved innovation and good practices,” Mr Ebenezer said.
In his remarks, the L-PRES coordinator in Ekiti, Olayinka Adedipe, said it currently operates in 16 local government areas of the state, adding that it is carrying out mass extension works with stakeholders such as people in the academic and extension officers.
“The country is targeting 1.4 million farmers in the project implementation manual. So, for Ekiti, we are looking at over 200,000 farmers to become commercial farmers.
“If we can empower 200,000 farmers, look at the indirect jobs linked. We are looking at over 1.5 million jobs for indirect jobs,” Mr Adedipe said.
The focus has always been on grain production, but this is the first time the nation is turning its focus to livestock production, according to Ogunloba James, who spoke on behalf of Synergy Impact Consultant Limited, the project lead consultant.
Source: allAfrica
Image Credit: Ministry of Information
