34,000 Livestock Farmers Empowered Through Ondo, World Bank Partnership

Fresh facts have emerged that about 34,000 livestock farmers have been empowered by the Ondo State government through a partnership with the World Bank and the Federal Ministry of Agriculture.

The State Programme Co-ordinator (SPC) of Livestock Productivity Resilience Support Project (Ondo L-PRESS), Mr Olufemi Adeogun, disclosed that the empowerment focuses on livestock productivity, specifically on poultry, pig, sheep and goat keeping.

Speaking in Akure, the state capital at a media interactive session, Adeogun said the L-PRESS is a six-year intervention of the World Bank through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security with the Project Development Objective (PDO) to the improve productivity, Commercialisation, and resilience of targeted livestock production systems and to strengthen the country capacity to respond to an eligible crisis or emergency in Nigeria.

According to him, Ondo is one of the 20 states of the federation that is benefiting from the project, saying the implementation of the project in the country has three value chains, namely poultry, pig, sheep and goat.

He said, “The overall purpose is to ensure smooth implementation of the project in the state, following the Project Development Objective (PDO) and operational guidelines, as contained in the Project Appraisal Document (PAD) and Project Implementation Manual (PIM).

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“The project is domiciled in the state Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. By the end of the project in 2028, the livestock sector would be transformed, enabling farmers to receive due rewards for their labour.

“The 34,000 targeted beneficiaries include poultry, pig, sheep, and goat farmers, as well as processors and marketers across the state. These individuals have been grouped into clusters and sub-clusters to benefit from the intervention.

“The training focused on areas such as health, disease control, and artificial insemination (AI), with sessions already held in selected locations and planned to be replicated in Akure and Ikare.

“The implementation office has also established five hectares of demonstration farms in Akure and Ondo City, and has set up farmer field schools in Akure, Ikare, and Okitipupa to promote modern livestock practices.’’

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the State Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mrs Foluke Daramola, noted that the government is undertaking these efforts to make farmers more productive, improve their livelihoods, reduce production costs in areas such as egg and beef production, and ultimately benefit both consumers and farmers.