Farmers on the Livestock Productivity and Resilient Support Project (L-PRESS) in Ogun State are to benefit from a $500 million lifeline offered by the World Bank, to boost productivity in the livestock sector for successful commercialisation in the state.
L-PRES is a World Bank assisted project which focuses on poultry, cattle, dairy, piggery and bee-value chains, to increase productivity, ensure commercialisation, and conflict resolution across the selected value chain.
Mrs. Winnie Lai-Solarin, the Federal Director, Animal Husbandry and the National Project Coordinator, disclosed this during a stakeholders’ meeting between officials of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the State Ministry of Agriculture and members of L-PRES in Abeokuta, the state capital.
Lai-Solarin said the purpose of the meeting was to articulate, plan and prepare the programme with farmers inputs, which would aid in creating an enabling environment for their businesses to thrive.
She, however, enjoined the farmers to focus on a particular value-chain and ensure that the criteria outlined by government were met, so as to benefit from the project, while encouraging the beneficiaries to ensure best practices in the rearing of their animals for commercialisation.
Dr. Adeola Odedina, the State Commissioner for Agriculture said the state would ensure that livestock farmers benefit maximally from the projects, as it would create more job opportunities.
Also Dr. Dotun Shorunke, the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, maintained that the state was chosen as a beneficiary of the project, based on the initiative of the State Governor, Prince Dapo Abiodun
Shorunke added that the project was people-centered with a bottom-top approach, in order to acquire the inputs of farmers in the livestock value-chain, which would ensure that farmers’ challenges were considered, for the success of the project.
Earlier, the Chairman, Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association, Alhaji Abdul-Mumin Ibrahim, while speaking on behalf of his members and other participants applauded the state government for the initiative, noted that they were excited about the prospects of productivity and commercialisation which the project would bring to their businesses.
