In a bid to empower and improve the living standards of people in the rural areas, especially women, Amo Farm Sieberer Hatchery Limited (AFSH) has resolved to alleviate poverty and address Nigeria’s high malnutrition rate through its Noiler Bird Initiative.
Noiler bird is a multi-coloured dual purpose breed that is suitable for backyard rearing that can help Nigeria achieve one of the key targets of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The initiative which is a rural development effort by Amo Farm is targeted at reducing rural poverty especially among women by improving their quality of life through the rearing of Noiler birds for chicken and egg production.
According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Nigeria has the highest burden of stunted and malnourished children globally with a national prevalent rate of 43 percent of children under five
To change the narrative of the burden of malnutrition in the country, Ayoola Oduntan, group managing director, AFSH said the Noiler bird initiative was designed to empowered households with chicken and eggs for their daily protein requirement.
“Malnutrition is caused mainly by protein deficiency and it has been proven scientifically that next to breast milk, chicken and egg are the best sources of protein and if you can place the chicken and eggs in the backyard of the rural poor, we will immediately from the very first day solve the problem,” Oduntan said.
“The population of Nigeria that we are targeting with Noiler are those that unless we empower them cannot afford to eat chicken from an average poultry farm,” he said.
He noted that the initiative is designed to ensure that the 90,000 Nigerian children whom UNICEF says could die of acute malnutrition are safe and quality of life in rural areas especially for women is improved by enhancing their income opportunities while also providing quality source of protein for them and their children.
Oduntan estimated that Nigeria’s per capita poultry meat consumption at 2.3 kg and egg consumption at 60 per person yearly is below the recommended requirement.
He added that AFSH started the research in 2003 to look into the production of dual purpose bird with low maintenance to sustain the rural people while addressing the challenges they face.
“If UNICEF says more than 240 Nigerian children die of hunger each day, it is the duty of all of us to ensure the figure is drastically reduced.
“We cannot continue to approach international communities with caps in our hands for alms when we have all it takes to curb hunger and poverty in a nation described as the giant of the continent,” he added.
Oduntan stated that the Ecuador model in tackling stunting and malnutrition which has been a rallying point for the farm to develop the Noiler bird pointed way for the country to also address its own issues of stunted growth in children.
Giving details of the business model of the initiative, Anand Burra, chief operating officer, AFSH said the programme would help eradicate poverty and malnutrition in the country, especially in the rural areas.
Burra noted that the Noiler birds are affordable and easy to rear because of its ability to feed on remnants from the kitchen and farms.
“Noiler bird can lay four times the number of eggs the local birds lay and can grow two and half times bigger,” he said.
According to Burra, the Noiler offspring is resistant to diseases like the local birds and the beef is tastier than the local breeds and can be reared with no antibiotics and chemicals as they can be transformed into ‘organic chicken.
Poultry feed constitutes 70 percent of farmers expenses in running a poultry business in the country. But with the Noiler initiative, farmers spends spend less in feed as Noiler birds can feed on household remnants.
He disclosed that the commercial Noiler chicks will be produced by the company owned hatcheries in different parts of the country and supply the day old chicks to Mother Units across the country.
In a testimonial, Marian Adepoju a beneficiary of the Noiler bird initiative said she has made more profit form the initiative more than she did when she invested into some financial products.
“As a retiree, the noiler farming pays me more than putting my money in investment houses,” Adepoju said.
Josephine Okojie
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