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| Photo: chicken processing factory (calachika) and Ayade |
In line with the industrialisation policy of the Ayade administration, the 24,000 birds per day chicken processing factory which is situated at the sprawling Ayade Industrial Park along with Goodluck Jonathan Bypass in Calabar, is one of the numerous industries built across the state.
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Speaking with newsmen at the factory during a facility tour, the governor stated that apart from being ready for NAFDAC certification, products from the factory are also ready to hit the market.
"Our factory products are completely ready to hit the market, we are in the last phase of NAFDAC certification and the certification is taking a process because we need to separate the selection of the live birds from the production line," he said.
Governor Ayade also said that "the live birds contain high levels of pathogens and their pathogenicity is very huge. A typical example is cosidiosisimitis. It can be very infectious and its pathogenicity is well established.
"So, to create a control system, NAFDAC has given us clear specifications and we are adjusting our production process to meet the NAFDAC criteria.
"In addition, we needed to set up a laboratory, and the laboratory is already in place as we await certain sensitive equipment for final testing.
"So, indeed, that is why we are yet to launch it aggressively in terms of marketing, in terms of adverts, because we need the final NAFDAC certification to do so."
Stressing that Calachika was poised to boost the protein intake of Nigerians, the governor lamented that "statistics show that the average Nigerian consumes only 2.5k of chicken per annum and that is a little above one chicken. So it means that an average Nigerian is seen to be consuming a little over one chicken in a year.
"This means that a child growing up in an average Nigerian home has access to only one chicken in the entire year and chicken is one of the cheap sources of protein."
Calachika, he said, "provides a great opportunity for us to increase the growth level of our young children. So in no distant time, Nigeria will experience a huge supply of chicken from calachika."
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