Leadership (Abuja)
Bernard Tolani Dada
15 November 2008
Uyo — Akwa Ibom state government is to spend more than 11billion Naira on the implementation of the state's Accelerated Livestock and Fish Production Programme (ALFIPP).
Briefing newsmen in Uyo on some of the major decisions taken at the end of the state executive council meeting, the state commissioner for information and social re-orientation, Mr. Aniekan Umanah, stated that the amount, which is to be spread over a period of three years, is a major step towards revolutionising agricultural sub-sector and the development of the state's economy as it is expected to yield revenue for the state.
Mr.Aniekan Umanah, with the state commissioner for Agriculture, Prof. Etok Ekanem, also announced that the council approved the release of N332, 500,000.00 (three hundred and thirty two million, five hundred thousand naira, as provided in the 2008 appropriation estimated for the establishment of a poultry hatchery at Mbiaya Uruan, in Uruan local government area.
Shedding more light on the state executive council's decision, the commissioner for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Prof. Ekanem, said the decision was a major government intervention in the agricultural sector.
He described the budgetary provision of N1.67 billion in this year's budget for agriculture as unprecedented in the history of the state. Prof. Etok Ekanem disclosed that the hatchery farm, to be sited at Mbiaya Uruan, is to produce 330,000 day-old hatchery per week.
In order to check the scarcity of livestock and fisheries, government is to open discussions with technical partners from Israel and Thailand who have indicated interest in setting up a fish and poultry farm in the state.
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