Rector Flags off EDC Integrated Farm Project

… approves 4 hectares of land for agricultural production

The Rector, Engr. Dr. Kadiri Kamoru to make the Federal Polytechnic Offa an Agricultural Hub is beginning to come to reality with a recent visit to the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC) to flag off the Integrated Farm Project.

On Friday, April 5, 2024, a significant step to kickstart poultry farming and other related agricultural businesses for commercialization was set in motion when the Rector’s delegation led by the Deputy Rector Administration, Dr. Rasheed Salimonu Ishaq, witnessed the first set of broiler chicks arrive at the farmland; and were moved out of the delivery van into the poultry pen to adjust to their new surroundings.

Performing the official flag-off on behalf of the Rector, Dr. Salimonu who could not hide his joy, thanked God Almighty for making the project a reality. He expressed appreciation to the Rector for creating an enabling environment for a project like this to thrive, while also applauding the Director of the Centre for the vision that birthed the poultry program. “Similar poultry projects are already being realized in University of Ilorin (Unilorin) and the Federal Polytechnic Ilaro (Ilaro Poly), I urge you to follow these examples”, he further stated.

On her part, the Deputy Rector Academics, Dr. (Mrs.) Mulikat Aliyu Bola applauded the EDC management team for their intention to make FEDPOFFA a business hub. She said, “with the farming initiative, the Polytechnic will see a huge leap in its Internally Generated Revenue that will make money available for critical aspects of their operations”. She commended the team for the grading and excavating of the roadway linking the Centre to the agricultural project, saying, “if the Centre is going to be serious about attracting investment, the connecting roads linking EDC must be motorable as this will facilitate the movement of motorists and pedestrians in and out of the farm with relative ease”. She promised to discuss the Centre’s concerns with the Rector to ascertain core areas of immediate support and interventions.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Director of EDC, Anthonia Alawaye described the farm project as “a living legacy which would serve as a pointer to the giant strides of Dr. Kadiri-led Administration”. She presented a brief outlook of the operations of the project, commending the Rector for the approval of the hectares of land, and for his commitments to  creating and sustaining an enabling environment for credible investors to partner the Centre in the value chain.

The EDC Management team alongside staff from the Public Relations Unit later toured the arable farmland to see first-hand the expanse of agricultural areas approved for the farming project.

Findings revealed that the agrarian project has begun in earnest and is placed on 4 hectares of farmland. The Deputy Director Academics (EDC), Engr. Dr. Muhammed J. Ambali said, “we have started the land clearing and we intend to start growing associated crops like cassava, groundnut and yam seedlings early in the raining season. Offering more insights into the investments, the Deputy Director Ventures and Outreach, Dr. Ayodele Akinnusi, further revealed that the Centre would also set up a beehive for honey production among other related agricultural businesses; saying…

“The Centre currently has two poultry pens with a capacity to house 800 birds each. And another two of similar capacity are presently under construction to raise the total installed capacity after completion to 2400 broilers. So far, the first set of 200 birds have been delivered and more are expected to arrive soon”.

Narrating the issue further, Dr. Akinnusi said, “plans are on to use a vast portion of the over 4 hectares of land to cultivate maize and soya beans which are direct raw materials for the production of chicken feed to serve as a form of backward integration”.

Speaking further, he said poultry farming is a cash cow and it is expected that the venture will play a major role in contributing to the Polytechnic’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) if it succeeds.

While the project has commenced with several activities and processes already ongoing, the Rector, Engr. Dr. Kadiri Kamoru; and the Centre’s Director, Anthonia Alawaye should be commended owing to the bottlenecks, novelty, funding pattern and several other hurdles that were surmounted in getting the farm on track. In all, this is another vista and leveraging investment opportunities in Agricultural Development.