AKINWALE ABOLUWADE
To save poultry farmers from the agony of losses on investments due to counterfeiting, Agribusiness Dynamics Technology Limited has, in partnership with the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science, launched Farmsured technology for day old chicks protection.
The occasion, which garnered stakeholders in the day old chicks value chain, held at the Mahogany Hotel, Ibadan, Oyo State, on Thursday, September 15.
Mr Ayooluwa Okediji, Chief Executive Officer of AgDyna, in an interview held at the precinct of the event, said that “We are here to unveil a technology called Farmsured, and this is what we had been working on for over seven years to make sure we can fight counterfeiting and adulteration of agricultural inputs.
“One of the reasons the small holders farmers are very poor is because they don’t have access to quality inputs. One of the reasons the banks will not release loans to farmers is because they have poor yield, which is most times as a result of lack of quality inputs and it’s not just limited to day old chicks but applies also to poultry feeds, seedlings, fertilizers and anything you can think of, so agricultural input is 70per cent of worth of any production that you want to do.
“When you borrow money from a bank and you’re not able to get good yield as a result of poor input, automatically that becomes a debt, and this is one of the reasons why small holder farmers are pushed down on poverty line. That is why agriculture is not interesting to most of our people.
“I have a personal story to this because my parents were farmers and I understand what we faced while I was growing up, so this is exactly where the passion came from to be able to make sure that we can solve this major menace that is facing the industry.”
Okediji explained further that “This (Farmsured) technology is actually designed for the micro farmers. Some people call me friend of micro farmers. This took us seven years of research and innovations and continuous development and now, we are doing the unveiling starting with the day-old chicks protection. We are also working on seeds. We are working with small holder farmers to make sure that they can have reward for their hard labour.
“I am an advocate of the believe that farmers who feed us deserve corporate protection and I think things that should benefit them should not be used against them. What I mean by that is that farmers deserve insurance for free without paying premium. We have been able to achieve that through this technology. Farmers deserve access to quality livelihood, we have been able to achieve that through our pilot.
“One of the reasons we are launching this in Oyo State is because I am in Oyo State; I’m from Oyo town and I was raised there. One of the governments that truly embrace this innovation is this present government through the Oyo State Agribusiness Development Agency where Dr. Debo Akande is the head.
“We are really pushing out a lot of things to make sure that Oyo State framers are the first to benefit from this initiative. We have started the project and presently with 3,300 youths that were trained at Nasarawa, I was there 11 times. So, 3,300 youths are currently being un-budded. Just three days ago, I was in Fashola farm in Oyo where we unveiled the NCARES project because this technology is actually part of what we are using. Oyo State Government is one of the major supporters of this innovation.
“I should also mention the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science, which is actually the regulator for animal husbandry in Nigeria; they are fully with us on this programme and a host of other companies like ILRI.
Prof. Eustace Iyayi, the Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of NIAS, said, “We are here today to ensure that we minimize quackery in the ‘day old chicks’ sub sector to reduce it to the barest if we can’t completely eliminate it such that we are able to standardize operations alongside the axis of poultry value chain and make sure that those who are involved are also helped to standardize their businesses while the majority of those adulterating their products also get value for the money they put into their businesses.
“Farmsured is a technology. It is a tracking and traceability technology in the day old chicks market value chain to help remove quackery or reduce it to the barest.”
Dr Tunde Amole, Country Representative for the International Livestock Research Institute, who represented Dr. Debo Akande, the Executive Adviser to Governor Makinde on Agribusiness, said that the technology would help farmers to thrive.
He stated that “Particularly in Oyo State and Nigeria as a whole, over the years, we discovered that some of the inputs needed by farmers to have good yields or good productions are counterfeits and farmers have no control over them. Today, the technology that we are unveiling was designed in such a way that there is traceability of every input. For instance, the person that produces day old chicks can now have his signature on it.
“There is a scratch card attached for farmers to use in confirming the genuineness of the products that they buy for them to know if it is really coming from the real source or not. As a government, we are working seriously to make sure that we provide enabling environment for farmers, checkmating counterfeit products, getting rid of people who want to come into business of farming to destroy the business and to make farmers run away, so we are standing in that position to encourage public private partnership. That is exactly what we are doing here today in such a way that when this technology is rolled out, individuals can make use of it and be able to get quality assurance of all the inputs that come so that our animal productivity can really increase.
“This would make a great impact for the small holders farmers as they would be able to source for resources in a cheaper and traceable way. You will be rest assured that all your inputs are of quality standard. When you are sure that your inputs are quality, your animals will produce well and then you can go to the market with your animals and smile back home.
Among the key players at the unveiling of the new day old protection technology kits were Dr Adebayo Kolade, the Moderator; and Mr Harry Njoagwuani, Director, Reg. Affairs Department, NIAS.
