FOLAWIYO FARMS LIMITED

Another company working towards Nigeria’s self-sufficiency is Folawiyo Farms Ltd.  This company is part of a five-year programme launched in 1986 to diversity the Yinka Folawiyo Group’s interests.

The company’s first farm projects located on two sites in Ilora, Oyo State.  One of them, a total of 280 hectares of land is used for crop planting and poultry breeding, while at the second site, another 23 hectares at Abepe on the western outskirt of town, the farm has its processing units product warehouse and offices.

The Onikoko site has two parent stock rearing houses of 27 x 12.5 metres each with a total capacity for 4,000 breeders, and four parent stock laying houses of 40 x 12.5 metres each with a total capacity for 8,000 breeder layers.  The farm plants 200 hectares of maize a year.  It produces an average total yield of 300 tons of maize, plantain of 23,000 stands and about one million crops of pineapple for both the domestic market and export.  The farm has also gone into large scale cultivation of cassava.  Three water boreholes supply water into a 240,000 litres capacity reservoir to guarantee regular water supply to the farm.

The Abepe site houses a feedmill with capacity for six metric tons per hour and the incubator/hatchery unit with a production capacity for 15,000 day old chicks per week or a monthly production of 60,800 day old chicks.  Average production of the layers section is 72,000 eggs per day.

It also houses a slaughtering/processing unit with a capacity for 600 birds per hour, and cold store with a capacity for 15 tons, 80 tons mobile cold store units, two refrigerated vans and a central distribution depot with 2,000 tonnes of cold storage capacity.

Other facilities include a maize drier unit which has a capacity for five tons batch drying, dual model – diesel engine or tractor P.T.O. driven maize shelter capable of handling four tons per hour and shelled grains store for 1,000 metric tons of maize.

Both sites have generator sets, guaranteeing uninterrupted power supply.

The egg quality is constantly checked to ensure yolk colour and weight, albumen stability and shell thickness while well-balanced feed, clean water and hygienic environments with well controlled temperature and humidity ensure the good health and welfare of the birds.

With a gross investment of about N240 million, Folawiyo Farms Ltd has already established a nationwide distribution network for its supplies of fresh eggs and frozen chickens.