Buhari inaugurates N30b Olam poultry, feed mill

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday inaugurated the N30 billion Integrated Feed Mill, Hatchery and Breeder Farm in Kaduna. Middle East Olam International Business Head, Mr. Vinod Kumar Mishra, had earlier said 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. He said the company would also produce 1.6 million day-old-chick every week.

He said 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.

Governor Nasiru El-Rufai of Kaduna state on April 10, 2016 laid the foundation of the project. The project is adjudged the biggest of its kind in Sub-Sahara Africa. Olam International is a leading agri-business operating across the value chain in 70 countries is investing $150 million (approximately N30.0 billion) in the project. “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.” El-Rufai, 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.