Poultry production and protein intake in Cross River in particular and Nigeria in general recently received a major boost as the ultra-modern Cross River state Poultry Farm Limited began the evacuation of birds from the facility to the Cross River Chicken Processing factory.
Situated at Odukpani, an outskirt of Calabar, the Poultry farm and the chicken processing factory both have installed capacity of 24000 birds per day.
The factory and the poultry are part of agro-based industries established by the administration of Governor Ben Ayade to create an economy for the state as well as jobs for the youth.
According to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Christian Ita, Calachika which has been ready since last December suffered from inadequate supply of birds prompting the governor to speed up completion of the Poultry Farm.
“We are happy and excited that we are on the verge of producing chicken for commercial consumption.
So, these are good times. Some persons who thought that this was all a mirage can now see that it is real. The birds are available and as such Calachika will be producing daily near it’s installed capacity.”
Production Manager of Calachika Chicken processing factory, Mr. Zia Ul Haq Abbasy, said the birds are of good quality and expressed confidence that “very soon, our chicken will be all over the Nigerian market. As you can see the birds we have here are of good quality.”
“The factory has an installed capacity of 24000 birds per day and based on my experience in 20 years of poultry processing, I don’t find anything lacking in this system that Governor Ayade has installed here”, Ziah, a Pakistani, further said.
The factory, he disclosed, was ready to get all the certification needed for export of its products as it has the capacity to expand to 60000 birds per day.