From Chicks to Plate: Lagos Bets on Poultry Skills
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Lagos State and the BATN Foundation are putting poultry training on the front burner with a project called Chicks to Plate. The initiative aims to train 200 farmers in modern poultry farming, with the goal of boosting food production and creating livelihoods.
Poultry is often one of the fastest ways to strengthen local protein supply. Birds turn feed into food quickly, require less land than many livestock systems, and can fit into urban and peri-urban agriculture when managed well. But poultry is also unforgiving. Poor brooding, weak biosecurity, bad feed, or sloppy recordkeeping can turn promise into losses in a hurry.
That is why training matters. Farmers need more than chicks and good wishes. They need practical knowledge on housing, vaccination schedules, feed conversion, ventilation, market timing, waste handling, and disease prevention. A poultry house is a classroom with feathers, and the exams come every day.
For young farmers and small business owners, projects like this can create stepping stones into commercial agriculture. The key will be follow-through: access to finance, reliable inputs, veterinary support, and buyers who pay fairly. Training without market access is like raising broilers with no road to town.
If Lagos can pair skills with strong support systems, this could be more than a nice program photo. It could help hatch a sturdier local food economy — and that is something worth crowing about.
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The Punch - Read original articleMore from today's edition
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