By Chinyere Anyanwu
To boost chicken and eggs production, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has granted a N600 million loan to the University of Ilorin (UNILORIN) to establish a commercial poultry farm.
The Deputy Vice Chancellor Research, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Mikhail Buhari, stated this yesterday while speaking with newsmen.
Prof. Buhari said that UNILORIN was the only institution that got the highly competitive loan. He said when established, the GG Max Poultry Farms would play a key role in the agro-based business toward the revival of the poultry sub-sector. According to him, this will reduce importation and close the existing demand and supply gap of eggs and allied poultry products.
The deputy vice chancellor said the university got the loan based on the proposal it submitted which was rated as the best of presentations made by competing universities.
“The university would be running the farm with the support of an external consultant,’’ Buhari said, adding that the farm is situated at Amoyo in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of the state.
He said when operational, the farm would produce 5,000 broilers per week and raise 9,000 day-old broilers weekly, saying it would maintain a layers’ population of 16,000 which translates to 3,679,200 eggs per year.
According to him, the project is targeted at building entrepreneurial skills among students as it would also generate employment opportunities. He said that it would be run as a typical business venture with its own board of directors and would be accountable to the vice chancellor.