Osun Produced 1.25m Day-old chicks and 800,000 Kg fishes in 2012

In the bid to boost food production, the Osun State Government has invested N629.4m in poultry and fish farming.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Mr. Wale Adedoyin, disclosed this during a news conference held at Governor’s Office, Abere, on Thursday.
Adedoyin said the state government invested N339.4m in poultry farming and N253m in fish farming.
He reiterated the commitment of the Rauf Aregbesola administration to making Osun the food basket of the country, stressing that investment in farming held the key to youth employment.
The commissioner said, “Four hundred and sixty-two out-growers’ ponds have been stocked in all the 30 local government councils of the state.
“The scheme promotes catfish production and processing for value addition. Harvesting of 800,000 kilogramme table-size fish from out-growers’ fish ponds have commenced.”
He said the state government had disbursed N339.4m to poultry farmers for the production of broilers, stressing that the initiative would improve the dietary intake of the citizenry.
Adedoyin said, “The objectives of the scheme include empowering poultry producers, enhancing economic status of producers, increasing protein intake in the diet of citizens and creating employment opportunities.
“At the end of the first phase, which ended on November 30, 2012, a total of 258 farms had been stocked with 1,249,728 day-old chicks by the government.”
By Tunde Odesola
Culled from Punch Newspaper