Fifty-five poultry farmers in Delta State have been supported with agricultural inputs by the state government to enable them grow and expand their poultry businesses.
The inputs for each farmer include 400 birds, 150 bags of feed as well as medication (drugs) for the birds. The poultry farmers are among the 145 Brown-YAGEP of the 2018/2019 Cycle of the state’s Job Creation Scheme under the SMART Agenda of Governor Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration, which aims at ensuring prosperity for all Deltans.
BusinessDay learnt that the entire 145 Brown-YAGEP beneficiaries are drawn from the 25 local government areas under the three senatorial districts of the state and cut across various agricultural businesses.
The distribution of the agric inputs to the 55 Brown-YAGEP had reportedly kicked off in three districts namely: Delta North, Delta Central and Delta South, with the inputs given in batches for best result.
Unlike the Green-YAGEP beneficiaries trained by the state and given starter packs to establish their chosen trades, the Brown-YAGEP beneficiaries are youths who had on their own acquired training and established their own businesses but due to challenges were not able to meet up.
With the state government’s intervention through the The Brown-YAGEP, they enrolled into the state’s Job Creation Scheme where under they had refresher course that qualified them to get support package for their businesses.
Shortly after the distribution exercise held in Asaba for Delta North Senatorial District, Samuel Ndikanwu, Youth Agricultural Entrepreneurs Programme (YAGEP), said the support package was for the 55 Brown-YAGEP across the three districts. He said same event was taking place in Ughelli for Delta South and Delta Central.
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“Those for broilers were each given 400 day old chicks, 150 bags of feed comprising starters and finishers mash. Those for layers were given 400 points of lay and 60 bags of feed comprising growers and layers mash,” he said.
He said apart from the birds and feed given to the beneficiaries, they were also given medication (drugs) to take care of the birds, and urged them to make judicious use of the items to boost their businesses so as to empower others thereby assisting in depopulating the number unemployed youths in the state in line with the administration’s SMART agenda that ensure prosperity for all Deltans.
One of the beneficiaries, Ebere Amunike from Ika North East of the state, thanked God for the success of the programme, which began with their enrolment in December last year and ended last month (March).
Amunike disclosed that she had been into poultry since the past eight years, though as a part-time student in a tertiary institution, and she expressed hope that she would succeed in business with the support package and to empower other youths.
