The World Bank through its initiative, Livestock Productivity Resilience Support Project (L-PRES) has pledged to intervene in the livestock value chain of Ekiti in order to boost its productivity in the state.
The National Project Coordinator, Sanusi Abubakar revealed this while speaking with journalists in Ado-Ekiti, at the end of a delegation tour visit across the livestock centres in the state.
The places visited include the Erifun Livestock Development Center, Ado-Ekiti Main Abattoir Centre and the Veterinarian office.
Abubakar maintained that the purpose of the intervention was to replicate the efforts of the state government in turning the centres into poultry and piggery hubs which will attract both local and international investors to Ekiti.
He added that the Initiative will look into upgrading Ado-Ekiti’s main abattoir centre to a modern market equipped with technological facilities for the benefit of livestock and abattoir users.
According to him, “We are here as part of our implementation support mission, we have finished with Kogi state and now we are in Ekiti state, we have gone around like two or three places, Erifun Livestock Development Centre, Ado-Ekiti main abattoir centre to see how we can intervene.
“There’s huge prospect of L-PRES. The state coordinating office is doing an extraordinary job in designing how we can intervene here. They have keyed into the laudable initiative of the state government in the broiler Programme in Erifun. We have seen a level of up-scaling and we are here to see how we can upscale to give our youths jobs and economic empowerment.
“The programme is working perfectly in Erifun for the broiler’s section and we want to see how we can expand and escalate what is happening there.
“At the abattoir, we are looking at possibilities of turning the abattoir into a market by building a very new modern one with modern equipment for the benefit of our livestock and abattoir users.”
On full implementation of the Initiative’s activities in Ekiti, he said: “Ekiti state was approved to have a robust poultry and piggery livestock value chain. We are having it at Erifun and it’s a very huge investment that will bring a lot of investors and that place is chosen strategically.”
Earlier, Ekiti state coordinator of L-PRES, Olayinka Adedipe reiterated the commitment of the state government towards expanding the centres in order to boost livestock outputs in the state.
He explained that the World Bank-assisted project has impacted positively on the livestock value chain in the state since its inception, noting that the state would soon turn into a hub of livestock products.
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