ADEDAYO SOBOYEJO is the CEO of Jocarl Breeder Farm, a prolific technocrat in poultry research, practice and development in Nigeria. He is also an avian medicine specialist, cancer research and biomedical scientist. He speaks with KEMI AJUMOBI on healthy poultry consumption, challenges in his sector among others, Excerpts.
Jocarl Breeder Farm
It was established to bridge the supply gap the Nigerian poultry industry was facing, and also the urgent need for the country to improve its food security, that was why a heavy investment was made to establish a state of the art poultry farm with the latest technology in poultry breeding. It was a challenging feat because the sector is faced with lots of challenges varying from feedstuff supplies, inflation, forex liquidity, power and insufficient know-how. However, we were able to surmount it all, by working round the clock, and also keeping our eyes on the vision and mission at which we were established in the first place. Gradually, things started falling in place and we are proud to be one of the biggest producers in the industry. Our facility was installed to produce over 800,000-day old chickens weekly. With our recent improvements, we have been able to expand to produce as much as 1.2million day-old chickens weekly from our two states of the art hatcheries, thus partnering with private organisations in the value chains and also indirectly supporting the FG move for economic diversification.
READ ALSO: Poultry association urges involvement of stakeholders in policy formulation, lower interest rates
Challenges
Challenges are a constant factor in any production sector. Challenges become greater when your dreams and visions are big and when you never intend to settle for less. Our challenges majorly like every other big player in this sector is the availability of quality feedstuff. Unlike our counterparts in the western world, they have been able to industrialize each of the value chains, and there are regulations in place, which are totally lacking here because nobody really cares or regulates the quality of raw materials that comes in for feed production which takes about 70% in your operation cost. Furthermore, the issue of smuggling frozen chicken and eggs into the country is paralyzing the industry thus making it harder for farmers to compete and breakeven. All these still boils down to proper regulation and policies. For a farm like ours that depends on 24/7 electricity, power generation is also a big task especially when the cost of diesel is very expensive. The challenges are quite enormous nowadays than it used to be in the industry, and that’s why farmers are yelling and even closing down daily.
How can one tell if livestock is healthy for consumption even when frozen?
Well for you, it might be difficult except you start seeing changes in colour or odour of the frozen product. For me as a Veterinarian, we were trained to know the normal anatomy of a livestock animal, when they have diseased the normal anatomy changes, both in size, texture, colour and many other parameters, and that was why I said earlier that it might be difficult for you to know beyond what you can see and smell.
Dangers of patronising quacks in your field
Yes, there are great risks. Veterinarians are trained to diagnose, treat and cater for the welfare of animals, both livestock and pet animals. Patronizing quacks put your investments at high risk, besides, you spend more to treat due to the wrong diagnosis, you will also lose a lot of your stock or your pets. The veterinary curriculum was specially designed and in-depth. So a good veterinarian besides being able to accurately diagnose should also be economical in his/her therapeutic intervention.
As an Avian Medicine practitioner, how did you manage the crisis when it hit the country and what can the government do to help prevent such spread or curtail it if it ever happens again?
Unfortunately, bird flu has been a disease that still emerges once in a while. In my own case, due to the size of our farm, we had to ensure they were protected. Also, the design of our farm which covers 5 million square meters in the area has a biosecurity threat, and each farm is isolated apart from each other with a minimum of 5km apart. This is the best we can do for ourselves. Furthermore, we were able to control movement to the nearest minimum, and we use a complete closed house system also known as air-conditioned houses in layman’s English. So our birds do not have any access to the outside world. The best the Government can do is to properly regulate importation of live birds, frozen product and eggs. These are the routes for these diseases getting into the country. They must also adequately compensate farmers affected so that they can easily come out to declare their farms infected if it happens.
READ ALSO: PAN pledges sustainable development for poultry value chain
On being cancer research and Biomedical scientist
From when I was young, I just love to know more about diseases and due to its increasing incidence because of our changing environment and lifestyle, I aimed to study the course to know more and add to my wealth of knowledge. My call and love are for my chickens.
Poultry and animal production generating income for Nigeria
The earlier we all see the bigger picture, the better for us. Nigeria’s population is growing really fast yearly, and we have to eat. No individual can survive without food. Food is not a luxury, it’s a basic necessity and because of this, anybody in poultry farming or animal production stands to enjoy more benefits in terms of income generation, being an employer of labour and also as a taxpayer. It is a cascade, which ultimately improves the GDP of the nation because it’s a business that can never be out fashioned. But with all said and done, I think anybody going into livestock production as a business needs to know the dynamics and economics of the business to be able to thrive and do well, and also, it is important he consults the right technocrats to help his business and investment grow.
Nigeria’s cancer ratings and what can be done to reduce increasing figures of patients
One thing I learnt about cancer is that it has always been there, although not as much as it is now. As generation changes and the lifestyle changes due to food, environmental pollution, chemical pollution, biological pollution and new technologies which carry radioactive materials, cancer is becoming prevalent, and it will increase. This is also as a result of serious multiple genetic mutations transferred from generations to another, thus making cancer more prevalent. I think we as the populace need to be conscious of our lifestyle and environmental degradation in general to reduce its prevalence.
Do we have enough veterinarians in Nigeria today?
Yes, we do. We have a lot of veterinarians. Take a quick calculation, by now I am sure we have up to 10 veterinary schools in Nigeria. If you estimate each one of the graduating minima of 50 yearly, that is about 500 new Vets produced yearly. This is surely bound to increase, with increasing investment in agriculture by a public and private organisation.
READ ALSO: Traders lament closure of livestock market in Akwa Ibom
Where else do you see investment opportunities?
Feed additives and chemical production, veterinary pharmaceuticals and biologics, poultry product innovations and varieties.
The most pressing issue in food and agriculture that you’d like to see solved?
I will like to see Nigeria get to the point where we are exporters of refined and value-added agricultural products to the rest of the world. At this point, I am sure the nation would be able to feed herself comfortably.
What advice can you give to President Buhari and the Lawmakers on food and agriculture?
Keep up the drive for economic diversification, and above all, create the enabling environment by providing electricity and transportation infrastructure to drive in more foreign direct investment in the sector.
