Buhari commissions biggest feed factory in Sub-Saharan Africa

President Muhammadu Buhari has commissioned an integrated poultry farm and animal feed mill in Chikun local government area of Kaduna state.

According to Kaduna State governor, Nasir el-Rufai, the facility owned by Olam International cost $150 million to set up.

Olam International described the facility as the biggest in sub-Saharan Africa.

The leading agri-business operates in 70 countries, supplying food and industrial raw materials to over 23,000 customers worldwide.

The new establishment consists of a feed mill, hatchery and breeder farm.

It is billed to process 180,000 tons of corn, 75,000 tons of soy bean, 360,000 tons of animal feed annually and 1.6m day old chicks weekly.

It is also expected to employ about 600 workers directly and 400,000 workers indirectly.

The Daily Times recalls that Olam International Business Head, Middle-East, Mr. Vinod Kumar Mishra, had earlier declared that when inaugurated, the multi-million dollar investment would utilise around 180,000 tonnes of corn and 75,000 tonnes of soya beans for its feed production.

Mishra said the company had the capacity to produce 360,000 tonnes of animal feeds every year and would also produce 1.6 million day-old-chick every week.

He stated that it would boost the production of maize and soybeans as well as the development of the Nigerian poultry and aquaculture sectors.

According to him, the 50,000 tonnes of on-site storage, in addition to a similar capacity of outsourced storage, will support food security and price stabilisation.

He said that training on farming practices would be offered to farmers in collaboration through collaboration with Federal and the state governments to increase farm yields and crop profitability.

Meanwhile, el-Rufai had on April 10, 2016 laid the foundation of the project which is adjudged the biggest of its kind in Sub-Sahara Africa.

el-Rufai had said “The project is a state-of-the-art with animal feed mills, poultry breeding farms and a hatchery that will produce 1.6 million weekly day-old-chicks.”

The Kaduna State governor had, while performing the ground-breaking ceremony at Chikpiri Gabas village, in April 2016, said the project was not about the size of its facility, but the employment opportunities that would be created in building and running the poultry project.

It was the first public function attended by the President Buhari outside Abuja since his return from London, where he spent 103 days on medical leave for an undisclosed ailment.

His last public appearance was on Monday when he received the National Council of Traditional rulers at the State House in Abuja.