FIC Report (Ekiti State) – The Ekiti State Government has said it is targeting to empower and engage over five thousand youths in poultry production within the next two years.
The Commissioner for Agriculture, Ebenezer Boluwade, said the state government, through the Livestock Productivity and Resilience Support (L-PRES) project in the state, had begun training and empowering poultry farmers on broiler production and best practices.
Boluwade spoke in Ado-Ekiti over the weekend during a 5-Day Training for five hundred youths in poultry production with the theme, “Capacity Strengthening on Good Animal Husbandry Practices for Youths in Ekiti Broiler Production Scheme”, organised by L-Pres.
The Commissioner who expressed the state’s commitment to becoming a leader in poultry production, said the training programme, which was a ‘train-the-trainer’ initiative, would go a long way in boosting poultry production capacity.
The Commissioner said the 500 youths undergoing the broiler production training for value addition to their poultry businesses were being taken through practical and theoretical sessions, as well as field trips.
Boluwade said the state government was using agriculture as a vehicle to actualise Governor Biodun Oyebanji’s youth development and employment generation agenda, deploying up streaming and downstream strategies.
“We are setting up two processing centres in Ekiti State to complement the production. So, as we are producing from the upstream, the midstream is taking it to the processing centre, and as the processing centre is processing it, it is also being taken to the market. The market can be local or international. We have a cargo airport, which can help us to take it to Abuja or Lagos, and we can also export it”, he said.
The Permanent Secretary, Ekiti State Ministry of Agriculture, Mr Ebenezer Ojo, said the training of livestock farmers on good animal husbandry practices in poultry production was part of efforts to advance agricultural practices and enhance food security through innovative techniques and knowledge exchange.
Ojo said the initiative was “a significant opportunity to upscale capacity, improve productivity, and strengthen sectoral sustainability”, as he encouraged participants to fully leverage the knowledge and insights from the programme and translate them into actionable practices within their operations.
The Permanent Secretary charged the participants to be committed to driving the value chain development in ensuring a long-term resilience of the livestock sector in Ekiti State.
L-Pres State Project Coordinator, Mr Olayinka Adedipe said L-Pres, a World Bank-funded initiative targeting improved livestock productivity, resilience and commercialisation in Nigeria sought to strengthen the country’s capacity to respond to crises and emergencies in the livestock sector.
Adedipe reiterated that L-Pres focused on enhancing livestock productivity and resilience through various interventions, including improved access to quality inputs, extension services and climate-smart technologies among others.
The Lead Consultant, Olayemi Salako said the participants were being trained on new methods of broiler production using best practices, with the goals of boosting production and the economies of the youths, as well as ensuring a healthy Ekiti State.
Salako reiterated that expectations from the training was for the participants to have their own farms and achieve self reliance and survival.
Omotoso Julius
ACEO&PRO
31/05/2026.
