DAILY TRUST
Wednesday, June 8,2011
AgricBusiness
Abuja chicken sellers want modern facilities -Chairman Malam Danladi Hashimu Galadimawa is the Chairman of Abuja Chicken Sellers Association. In this interview, he says the major challenge the group faces is its inability to modernise. The interview was conducted in Hausa.
nred lIlore sources, But as I said we have o ur nerlVork almost all over th e 36 slates. W ha t are sOllle of the challenges in this bus in~? We ha\'e a lo t o r challenges and need assistance rrom th e go\'ernm ent. We wa nt a modern chicken ma rket. For exa mple, the Worl d Bank went to Kaduna to build th at type or mark et. These modern markets will be of great assistance to us. 1-lere in Abuja we have bren d iscu s~ ill g wi th th e go\'ernme nt and th ey have p romised to contac t th e: Wo rl d Bank to sci up such facil ilie5 and we are satisfi ed 50 rar with the arra n!temenl. Do you ha\'e interes t ill po litics!
By Jibrin .IIbull.!\a' & Sunda~ Williams
H O W long h 3V~ you chicken business!
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I S 1 3rt~ thi5 b usinl'SS in 1983 at the the n Centra l marke t in Kad un a. W hen I ca me to Kadu na I did n't knoll' a nybod y and went rou nd the market.s to ~e what I could do fo r a Ii \,i ng. in th e proc· ess I d evdoped interes t in Ihc chicken busi ness. I \\'c nl to the lead ers or the
chicken marke t a nd introduced myse lf to th cm and the y accepted mc and ga\'C' me th e rul es and rcgu];u io ns. So Ihal was how I started lill:' busi ness. Jr a customer bUI'S the ch icken I will also dress it and Sf' \ altuSI N2 un top u nti l 1 slarl ed going uut to bring th e ch icke ns from Olher places an d sell them to customers. When the marktt got bumt. I lost a lo t a longside o th er ptople in the marke t which led to m y comi ng to Abuja in 1993 and as God will ha"e it. t he loss became a blessing for Ole as I mO\'N to • Abuja. Since I moved to j\b uja. th e b u sl n e~s became too m uch ror me alone As I'm talking to you
no\,' I do n't know how many people are reed ing in Ihis business. I have aooul IS workers amo ng th em ro ur drh'ers th at drh'e: my COl ts. When e:ve:r I bu y th t chick e: ns lhey will go and bring th em and ir )'ou come: here 10 buy. they take ilia your d~tin a tion ro r a toke n . I have been th e chai rman o r th e assucia ti on sinct August 3, 2003 and b)' August th is rear I will be clocking eighl years as the chai rman or lhe associa ti on. Apar t [romthh place d o you h ave othe.r o utl e ts ~ , lIa\'e o the:r o utl ets In Wuse:. Utako. Ga rki Model and In te rnatio nal m:lrkets, Gud u, Gwa rimp •• Kado Fis h m arke ts and oth ers.
liow many chickens dq you have in stock for now! As I am ta lking to you now. I have about o ne tho usand chitkens. People. hotels. res taurnnts are all coming to U $ wi th big vehides to buy chicken. So o ne thoU$lIld is just a modest figu re based o n what I howe since I have made lots o r sales today. What about the le vd or pa tronage! I have t ht I,ngest stock an d made th e h igh est sale or chickens in Abuja, I tha nk God ror til is. T his Is ml' wareho use: and I~op le from WIL~ muket, Utako market. Marn raba. Nyan )'a. Suleja ando tlier markeu within FCf come to bu y thei r chickens
rrom me, In a day I sell up to 700, 800 or I .OOOchi cken. But during occasions, I canno t even qu ant ify the num be r of ch icke ns we sell o n a daily basis. How much do yo u make in a d.y~
Our chicken price is the lowest in Abuja. Someli mcs, we nlake a profit o r N20 0 11 e ..ch ch icken because we are a wholesalc d ealr rs. As at Mond ay till today. I ha\'c sold the la),rrs:u N800wh ile the broilers go for be tween N8S0 and N900 drpend ing on the SilC. Whe re do you bur r o ur chicken s rrom? WI'. buy rrom NILSlTawa. los. Ka no, Yobe, Kasti n... lIo rin , l.akoja and e\'en l oadan. Bul we
I had a meeting with my people in Gaiadim awl Ward in Kl ru Local Governm ent o r Kano Slate after th e National A!;scmbl), elections. before t he presidential elect ions, and th ey wanted nle to go for the posi tion or cou ncillor. [ expl3ined toth em thaI I ha"e lwo positio ns in Abuja. The first is my ch icken com pany b usiness ao d the seco nd is my positio n as t lie Ch airman or th r Chicken Sellers Assoc iation. T hey pleaded wi th me th at I shoul d lea\'e eve ryth ing I ",-as doing so that it will not afrl:ct my cont ri butions to th e associa ti on. I h.we a n age: nda for my ambit ion if God htlps me to win th e tl ec t io n . The fi rs t ~ gl: n d a Is the p rovisio n o f dr in ki ng Wa ter. My second agellda is edu cation. My t hi rd age nd a Is t he need to provid e cottage cl in ics fo r t he p oo r people to ha ndl e li llie illnesses that mal' not dC llland th em to t ra\'d to the local gO\'ernment or s tate cap ita l. M)' rou rth agen d a Is to assist o u r local ra n ners. As 1 said . abou l 80 percent of t he pop u lation o f Gal:tdhnawa a re farm tn 50 I wHI Init iate poliCies Ihat wi ll help t he m .
Koreans plan $400m agric project in Ekiti From Ka,od~ UundaJo, Lagos IN VESTORS fro m South Ko rea h ave ent e red into discu ssions wit h th e Ek ltl State Gove rn men t to invest abo ut $400 m illio n in th e agricult u re secto r in th e- Slat e. The proposed tra nsformation or agricult u re in the state whi ch was cod e-na med Green Wealth Agric ultural Projecl (G WAP ) i~ expected to ge ne rat e n ot leu th an 2S.000 jo bs III the first rea r and hr lp booS! ra rm yield in th e state. 11le in ves tors wh o we re led by Mr. K)'u nsi Soo- Moo n who is th e Chief Executi Ve O ffi ce:r
(CEO) or SYNCTor In te rna· ti onal Li mited . held an intern c· tj \'e session with th e state gove rno r, Dr. Ka)'ode Fayc mi a nd oth er to p o fflcJal s of his .. dmin istntion on Friday. The project ra ci lltator, Dr. Adebayo Adew us i, ex plained th at th e m od el ha.d neve r betn used in any par t o f Arr lca be rore, poi nting ou t thai it wo ul d rocus m o re on graduat es who would be engaged to producc ror com m ercial pur pos~. He ex plai ned t hat $400 million 10 be ploughed into the project. while 30.000 h« tares orland would be needed ror th e proj«t.
O t he r real ures o r th e project accordi ng 10 Adewu.si includ e (a r m se ttle:m ~ nts:. health ra cillties for the participants and agrl. culture/ rarnl en ' acad t my. $9o-Moon noted that the: project is aimed at po~rtyeradi cation, food s«urity and job pro· vis ion. add ing that a mininlunl or 125,000 jobs wo uld be provided und er the scllt mt in rour yeaf$. He added that the investo rs wo uld hand ove r the projec t to th e Ekiti State Gove rnm ent aftt r three years o r managi ng iI, explaining rurther th 3t the: scheme 15 also ex pected to provide rr« const ruction mate-rials as well as tools for ru ral ra rm ers.
The Korea n busines5aecuti l'e discloscc:l th at SY NCTOP would bu yall agricultural prod uce gen erated rrorn the project. Responding. Go \'e rn o r Faye- mi said his ad mi nistrntio n has always looked rorward to th is typt of meetin g on th e exploitation or natural r($ou rceS of th e statl: not ing Ihat th e: bus iness prop05al h as a se mblance with admi n ist ration's ph," for modern agric ulture. The state chi er ellec utive: promised to set up I ca bi nel co mmitt re to study th l: proposal and look into its fin ancial and legal inlrllcati ons. HI'. di sclosed that th e Mi nis·
tries o f Agriculture, Com me rce and Indu stry. Job Crea ti on Age ncy. Fou nt ain Holdings Linlited, wo uld partne r with SYNCTO P. The governor believed thai th e coming or the Koreans wou ld gh-e room ror skills tnmsrl: r disclosing rurthe r th at discussions are o n wi lh a Ko rea n corporation . SAM SUNG, on leT developml:n! In state-owned schools ror ski11s acquisitio n. ['ayem ! add ed th at South west slate governments are Int erested in a plt n-regio nai eco nomic developm ent th at would make the regio n the econom ic hearlbeat or the cou ntr)',