The Akwa Ibom Government has completed the construction of a hatchery capable of producing 540,000-day-old chicks daily, Gov. Godswill Akpabio has said.

Akpabio announced this on Tuesday in Uyo while presenting the 2013 Budget before the State House of Assembly.

He said that the project which started this year, was ready for inauguration and would be managed under Public-Private Partnership arrangement.

The governor expressed the hope that the hatchery would meet the needs of poultry farmers in the state and the South-South region.

He said that the agriculture sector was allocated N9.5 billion out of the total budget estimate of N459.3 billion for 2013.

The governor said that in 2013, the agriculture sector would focus on consolidating the gains recorded various programmes of the state government.

while reviewing the 2012 budget performance of the agriculture sector, Akpabio said that state-sponsored Integrated Farmers Scheme had trained 3,407 youths in various aspects and also empowered them with N500,000 each.

He said that the Women in Agriculture programme had also trained 4,500 women on Agro-Business Entrepreneurship with a grant of N250,000 each.

"In 2013, government will aggressively pursue and consolidate on these people-oriented policy programmes to achieve a better living standard for our people," Akpabio said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the 2013 budget is christened, "Budget of Industrialisation and Consolidation".

NAN