- Youths cooperative establishes piggery, fishery, poultry and vegetable farms
From George Onyejiuwa, Owerri
One of the economic strategies by the Uzodinma’s administration the ‘ One Kindred One Business Initiative (OKOBI), which is geared towards community based co-operative enterprise has taken root in Okpefe community in Ezinihitte Mbaise council has kicked off its own.
The youths of the community who have formed a cooperative society pulled their resouces together to establish piggery , Poultry, fishery, vegetable and cucumber farms .
Chief Okey Ihuoma who had convinced his community to adopt the idea and Okpofe Youths’ Co-operative Society received the team from the office of the Chief Economic Adviser whose office had initiated the OKOBI economic strategy.
During the inspection visit Monday, the Senior Communications Officer in the of Chief Economic Adviser, Mr. Fabian Anyanwu, who represented the Office, was conducted around the different sections of the Co-operative, which include the Piggery, Poultry, Fishery, Yam, Cucumber, Vegetables, Banana and Plantain Plantations.
In the piggery section, over sixty (60) pigs (including piglets) . The President of the Okpofe Youths Co-operative Society, Mr. Nwogu Ihuoma Chidiadi and their Secretary, Mr. Oguegbe Ethelbert, who led the tour round the sections, said that they had made sales of over twenty (20) pigs during the yuletide.
At the poultry section, with over one thousand six hundred (1600) birds were kept, leaders of the farms said they had made sales of over 400 broilers recently, too.
The fishery section has over eight thousand (8000) cat-fishes, including the fingerlings, and is commercially viable.
In addition to the commercial viability of the cooperative, it has also created both permanent and temporary jobs and provides opportunities for human capital development. For instance, there are four (4) students on industrial training from the Fisheries Department of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, and three (3) serving corps members in the fishery section alone.
At the cash crop section, the OYCS has harvested yams planted and replaced the area with cucumber. Harvesting of the cucumber, which was ongoing at the time of visit, is at an interval of two days, according to the Youths President. There is another section of the farm where vegetables (Ugu) and water leaf are being nursed for commercial purposes and from where they make sales to the public. Both the Plantain and Banana Plantations are domiciled in the farm, while the snailry section has been constructed and is expected to take off before the end of January 2024.
Speaking to the OKOBI team, the Youths President, Mr. Nwogu, Ihuoma Chidiadi, said their target is to be the food basket of Mbaise Nation in due course and expressed hope that with support from Government and Donor Agencies, they would achieve the feat.
He outlined some of their challenges as ranging from access to grants/ loans that will enable them to go into Bakery and other Confectioneries, for instance. He went further to say that they have been granted permission to use a building erected by Christ the King Catholic Parish, Okpofe, which has been lying fallow for use for the purpose. He also called for assistance from Government and Donor Agencies for the installation of solar energy for regular supply of electricity for pumping of water for the different sections of their farms hence they require water to thrive adding that they spend huge sum of money to purchase diesel for their lister generating set. He said that they require more off-takers for their products, especially the poultry section.
In his reaction, the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of Imo State, Prof. Kenneth Amaeshi represented by Fabian Anyanwu applauded their efforts and promised to support them in capacities available to his office.
OKOBI is a key project of the Imo State Government to address the challenges of poverty, informality, and unemployment. It is primarily about group-owned businesses.