No fewer than 100 small holder poultry farmers in Ikwuano/Umuahia federal constituency of Abia State have benefited from the collaboration between the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) and Honourable Sam Onuigbo, in empowering them to boost production and income.

The minister, represented by the Regional Director, Mr. Felix Kehis, pointed out that the Federal Government plans to support the small, medium and large-scale poultry farmers, and that the empowerment programme is also part of its strategy to boost egg and meat production as well as to create more jobs for Nigerians.

In his remarks, the member representing the Umuahia federal constituency, Onuigbo, said the event was all about creating alternative means of livelihood for Nigerians.

The collaboration yielded the distribution of about 100 Galvanized Battery Cages, 2,100 Point of Lay (POL) Birds and four bags of feeds to each of the farmers in the federal constituency.

The birds provided to the poultry farmers are noiler birds, formed from the amalgamation of two words, “Nigeria” and “broiler”. The Noiler birds are affordable, enduring, easy to handle and produce eggs 4 times more than chickens that are native to most of rural Nigeria. Female Noiler birds produce 160 eggs in their lifetime, after which they are sold for their meat. The male birds mature to table weight quicker than their native counterparts which take longer. The male matures to table weight of between 2.0 to 2.5 kg at 14 weeks, while the native chicken takes 10 months to gain 1.5kg body weight, under similar conditions. New Telegraph, Pg. 21.