Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Audu Ogbe praised CHI Farms and Zoetis for creating the City Laboratory, an ultramodern veterinary diagnostic center ordered in Ibadan, Oyo State.
Ogbe, who spoke through the Director and Chief Veterinary Officer of the Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Olaniran Alabi, said that the commissioning of the center justifies the joint efforts of the federal government and the private sector in ensuring necessary tools for sustainable socio-economic growth in livestock development.
According to him, the livestock sub-sector contributes 5.8 percent of the national gross domestic product (GDP) and provides livelihood to more than 30 percent of the rural population.
He said that for the livestock business to remain profitable and sustainable in the face of growing populations and protein demand, it is important that animal diseases and epidemics are well controlled and eradicated.
He noted that the sub-sector is limited by a number of factors, such as the prevalence of a wide range of animal diseases, such as contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), Peste des Petits Ruminant (PPR) and African swine fever (ASF) and others. He further stressed that for Nigeria, in order to ensure profitable livestock production for farmers, it is necessary to conduct a proper, effective and accurate diagnosis of animal diseases.
In addition, Mr. Ezekiel Ibrahim, National President of the Poultry Farmers Association of Nigeria (PAN), said that the poultry industry faced many problems, especially losses due to outbreaks of diseases that, according to him, frustrated and crippled the investments of farmers, leaving them sad and hopeless.
He acknowledged the efforts of the National Institute of Veterinary Research (NVRI) to diagnose diseases of domestic animals, but noted that the problems that arise and the changing tendency to the clinical manifestation of diseases require more aggressive intervention.
In his opening remarks, the managing director of Chi Farms Limited, Mr. Martin Middernacht, said that the motive behind creating the City Laboratory in partnership with Zoetis is to help livestock farmers to grow healthy and profitable animals, and to research and invent vaccines based on tests.
In addition, the Regional Director of Zoetis, sub-Saharan Africa, Mr. Gabriel Varga, said that his organization’s partnership with Chi Farms mainly helps poultry farmers to realize their full potential.
Varga further stated that similar laboratories would be opened in different parts of the country in the subsequent phases of the A.L.P.H.A project.
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