The federal government has said it is planning an additional 50 million production of table eggs through its project tagged National Egg Production Scheme (NEGPRO) to provide protein to its school feeding programme.
The project is also aimed at increasing the output of egg production in the country to 50 million daily between now and 2018 as well as create 1 million jobs.
Various FAO research findings have indicated that in the next 40 years, meat and egg production will have to grow by 75 per cent to meet the demand for animal protein.
“We about to begin a huge school feeding programme, we need to give every child three eggs a day or at least an egg per day. We need these children to have greater sources of protein in their diet because we want them to develop mentally and physically because when the only thing contained in a diet it will not do the children any good”, Audu Ogbeh, minister of agriculture and rural development stated on Tuesday in Abuja while signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tuns Farm to drive the egg production scheme.
“Let’s see how together we can grow our economy, society, feed ourselves and increase the intake of eggs which is still very low inspite of the fact we are number one in Africa”, Ogbeh charged.
Aware of the challenges that often confront the poultry industry, the minister cautioned the management of Tuns Farm to bear in mind the weather factor which has effect on poultry production. ” As you spread the programme, please bear in mind one or two anxieties that we have. Temperature differences in certain parts of the country will determine whether or not your programme will succeed. As you move farther north, temperatures can sometimes rise as high as 40 degrees between February to April and this means that the mortality rate of birds will be high”, Ogbeh cautioned.
He however explained that the ministry with Tuns Farms will to design poultry pens which are climate smart and environment friendly so that mortality of birds will be reduced.
Speaking with journalists, Asiwaju Olatunde Badmus, chairman, Tuns farms said that ministry of Agriculture will assist the Bank of Industry (BOI) to access N25 billion from the Central Bank of Nigeria to finance the project.
“The ministry appointed us as a consultant and manager of the scheme, we are to create 1 million employment through the scheme and produce 50 million table eggs daily by 2018.
“The ministry of agriculture will assist the BOI to access N25 billion from the CBN under the agricultural scheme. The BOI will select some commercial banks that will participate in the programme and loans under this programme is at single digit rate”, he added.
Part of the terms in the MoU is that the Tuns Farms will recommend eligible entrepreneurs to access the N25 billion facility through the Bank of Industry. The company will also develop customised and standard feed concentrate for the scheme.
It is estimated that Nigeria generates N220 billion annually on egg production.
Experts have opined that the country has the potential to boost the nation’s economy in the non-oil sector. According to them, an increase in the per capita consumption of eggs of each person annually would equally raise the annual revenue to about N340 billion.
The current per capita consumption of egg in the country is 65 eggs. The egg industry produces about 1 billion eggs per annum valued at approximately N220 billion.
