Imo refurbished poultry begins sale of chickens

This development is coming after Governor Rochas Okorocha’s resolve to resuscitate the farm as part of his administration’s efforts to create employment opportunities, promote agriculture as well as boost the internally generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.Flagging-off the exercise, the Speaker, Imo House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Uwajimogu, who represented the governor, expressed joy […]

This development is coming after Governor Rochas Okorocha’s resolve to resuscitate the farm as part of his administration’s efforts to create employment opportunities, promote agriculture as well as boost the internally generated Revenue (IGR) of the state.
Flagging-off the exercise, the Speaker, Imo House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Benjamin Uwajimogu, who represented the governor, expressed joy that the Avutu Poultry which is one of the legacies of the late Sam Mbakwe’s administration about 30 years ago has come back to life.
Okorocha said the administration is not resting or its oars until all moribund industries in the state are revamped and abandoned projects completed.
He said the Imo Modern Poultry, within its few months of reactivation, has produced the first batch of over 10,000 chickens for sale to the public, adding that the farm will make available more than 100,000 birds for sale by December.
The governor revealed that the farm has the capacity to house over 2.5 million birds as well as provide investment in other areas like fisheries, livestock feed production, processing and packaging of frozen chicken and called on investors to take advantage of the opportunities available in the project.
Okorocha also pledged the donation of 20,000 chicks to the poultry as part of his contribution to the development of the farm.
The Commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Sir Frank Ibezim, recounted the journey through the reactivation of the Imo Modern Poultry by the present administration and commended Governor Okorocha for his vision.
Sir Ibezim noted that Imo Modern Poultry is the largest poultry in sub-Saharan Africa, situated on about 177 hectares of land with 45 poultry houses of 2.5 million birds capacity.
He said the farm has a feed mill of 3,000 metric tons silo as well as hatcheries, a layer capacity of 235,000 birds and about 100 ton cold room for preservation of processed chicken.
The commissioner pointed out that government is working in collaboration with a South African agric investment Company, Whawna Crux, to rehabilitate the poultry and make it function at full capacity.
He also said that the farm, when finally rehabilitated, will engage both skilled and unskilled manpower, provide capacity building to youths on modern poultry keeping as well as empower and provide buy off and processing services for poultry farmers in the state.
The traditional ruler of Avutu Autonomous Community, HRH Eze Ebel Chukwuocha, and the Transition Committee Chairman, Barr. Eric Nwokorie, expressed happiness that the farm would engage unemployed youth in the area and assured the state government of the continued support of the people of Obowo.