Group trains over 2,000 on climate smart poultry production in Taraba

The Alliance for Sustainable Livestock (ASL) in collaboration with Ardo Yahaya Global Ventures (AYGV) has commenced the training of over Two Thousand women and Youth on Climate Smart Poultry Production in Taraba.

The two-day training is aimed at training the participants on Climate Smart Poultry Production practices, introducing them to Vaccine Business Management and the process of stepping down the training to grassroots.

The Chief Executive Officer of the AYGV Hajiya Aishatu Ardo, convener of the training said that while emphasis is placed on the production of High Breeds of poultry, especially broilers, little attention is given to the production of indigenous breeds and the training hopes to bridge the knowledge gap.

“With the threat to food security and other challenges confronting the families, we believe that the training will position the women to get the additional income required to improve their standard of living.

“There is an increased demand for indigenous chicken breed over the broilers and we hope to encourage this maximally. We hope to curb the high mortality rate of indigenous breeds and we hope to train them on the basic skills to tackle this and take it down to the grassroots.

“We focus more on the women because they are the live wires of every home. If we can train them to rear the poultry breed we commonly call local breed in their backyards but in a more improved way, it will go a long way.

“Usually, the chickens were allowed to raise the chicks over a long time. We would train them to take up the chicks just after two days of hatching and brood them the same way we do with the broilers. That way, the chicken is able to hatch another litter quickly and there is an abundance.

“Again, you know that the local breed is mostly scavengers. We hope to train them on how to add little supplements to their feeding so that they are able to perform a lot better and grow faster,” she said.

The Director, Livestock Services Ministry of Agriculture and Food Security in Taraba State, Daudu Mbaamo, asked the participants to take the training seriously as it is a rare privilege for them to have been chosen to be part of the training.

“The state will collaborate with every effort at improving food Security especially now that things are critically difficult for everyone, occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal.

“Those of you selected for the training are exceptionally lucky to have been chosen. Make sure you step down the training and make the best of it. Occupy yourselves productively and I can assure you that these skills will last for life. Our contemporary realities mean that we must sit up and think outside the box to make ends meet.”

Some of the participants and other speakers at the program hailed the convener of the training for its timelines as it is coming at a time of extreme hardship when people are looking desperately for other means of improving their livelihoods and called on her to sustain the training so that even more people will key into it.