Agric: AgDyna, NIAS Unveil Farmsured Technology To Protect Day-old Chicks

By Bode Akinbode, Ibadan

Efforts to increase livestock production and reduce quackery in poultry production of day old chicks received a boost as a leading agribusiness giant, Agribusiness Dynamics Technology Limited in partnership with the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science and oyo state government unveiled the Famsured Technology to protect day old chicks.

The official launch of the Technology which took place at Mahogany Hotels and Suites, Jericho Ibadan on Thursday had in attendance Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors of Breeder Farms and Hatcheries, Farmers and Day-Old chick distributors in Nigeria

Farmsured is a technology driven product authentication and services platform which provides
consumers and manufacturers with product trust across the agri-food value chain.

Oyo State Governor , Engnr. Seyi Makinde who who spoke through his Executive Adviser on Agribusiness, Dr. Debo Akande at event noted that the farmsured technology has been designed in such a way that there is traceability of every inputs of day old chicks production in poultry sector.

He said the farmsured technology is one of the inputs needed by farmers in oyo state and Nigeria to have good yields or good productions and prevents counterfeitadding that it is designed in such a way that there is traceability of every inputs.

Dr. Akande who was represented at the unveiling event by Dr. Tunde Amole of the International Livestock Research Institutes said, “There is no doubt this initiative will bring more succour to the farmers in the state. This will bring a great impact for the small holders farmers.

“They will be able to source for resources in a cheaper, traceable ways and only if you are rest assured that all your inputs are of quality standards that is when you can go to the market with your animals and smile back home because there is no doubt that all your animals will be of great products.

He stated that the state government is working seriously to make sure that we that there is an enabling environment for farmers to thrive in their businesses.

In is opening remarks the President , Nigerian Institute Of Animal Science (NIAS) Profor. Baba Abubakar.who was represented by the 2nd Vice President of the Institute, Prof. Akin Adesehinwa said described the farmsured technology as asolution that empowers agricultural input companies (AICs) to gain deep market insights on consumer
purchasing, distributor supply patterns and grow sales, by recovering market share, lost to counterfeiters and competitors

Prof. Akinsehinwa who declared the ceremony open noted that the livestock sector has been without regulatory control and standard before the establishment of the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) in 2007 hence, no particular agency of government was directly focusing on the animal husbandry subsector of Animal Agriculture

The NIAS boss who emphasised that Day-Old chicks is an important input in poultry farming apart from the feed noted that a lot of poultry farmers are contending with huge losses, arising from sub-standard day-old chicks.

“The breeder farms and the
hatchery operators, are not left out either, with some of the products of established hatcheries being
compromised through the activities of unpatriotic elements, by changing cartons or mixing quality chicks from these hatcheries with sub-standard chicks.

“The Nigerian Institute of Animal Science recognised these challenges in the poultry industry,
hence, the gazetting of the Regulation of Breeder Farms, Hatchery Operations and Day-Old Chicks quality in Nigeria, in 2020, with the aims of ensuring that Breeder Farm Operators adhere to good hygiene Practices and Good
Husbandry Practices.”He said among others

“This is why the Institute has partnered with AgDyna Limited, the provider of Farmsured technology ,this in turn, is to strengthen the brand reputation of AICs by protecting farmers from counterfeit agricultural inputs and offering them loyalty reward points towards risk protection for compliance to standards.

So what this technology is set to do is not to drive you out of business, rather, it is to improve vour business much better than before. What you stand to gain is more and this will be revealed in the days ahead, with the Institute’s continued interest in the proper upscaling of the poultry value
chain” he added

Also speaking, the convener and Founder /CEO AgDyna limited Mr. Ayooluwa Okediji disclosed that it took the company seven years of research and innovation as well as continuous development to come up with the technology

” I am an advocate of farmers who feed us , they deserve corporate protection and I think things that should benefit them should not be used to charge against them and what I mean by that is that farmers deserves insurance for free without paying premium we have been able to achieve that, through this technology, farmers deserve access to quality livelihood, we have been able to achieve that through our pilot, and by the time we scaled this it is really going to be something that the world is waiting to see especially as it is designed for small hold farmers and for African farmers.

Esrlier in an adress of wellcome by the Registrar/CEO of NIAS , Prof. Eustace Iyayi, said, “majority of those that they have been adulterating their products also get value for the money they put into their businesses, so farmsured as a technology, is a tracking and traceability technology in the day old-chicks market value chain to help remove quackery or reduce it to the bearest minimum.

Also speaking at the event the Prof. Eustace Iyayi, the registrar and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) said, ” we are unveiling here today 10meters farmsured technology, a technology being deployed out of the concept we came up with at the institute in collaborated with Agroinfotech and other partners.

He further said, “We have here today to ensure that we minimize quackery in the day old chicks sub sector reduce it to the nearest minimum, if we cant completely eliminate it, such that we are able to standardize operation alongside axis of poultry value chain and make sure that those who are involved are also help to standardize their little businesses while the majority of those that they have been adulterating their products are also get the value for the money they out into their businesses, so farmsured is a technology, is a tracking and traceability technology in the day old chicks market chain value to help remove quackery or reduce it to the bearest minimum.

Speaking with journalists shortly after the unveiling of the technology, Mr. Ayooluwa Okediji the brain behind the Farmsured technology who doubles as the founder and chief executive officer of AgDyna said, ” we are here today to unveil a technology called farmsured.

He said, “we have been working on this project for over seven years to make sure we can fight counterfeiting and adulteration of agricultural inputs, because one of the reasons the small holders farmers are very poor is because they don’t have access to quality inputs, one of the reasons the banks will not release loans to farmers is because they have poor yields, which is most times as a result of quality inputs and it’s not just limited to day old chicks, poultry feeds, seeds, fertilizers and anything you can think of.

“So agricultural inputs is 70% of any production that you want to do, and when you borrowed money from a bank and you’re not able to get good yields as a result of poor inputs, automatically that becomes a debt, and this is one of the reasons why small hold farmers are push down on poverty line and that is why agriculture is not interesting to most of our people, I have a personal story to this because my parents were farmers and I understand what we faced while I was growing up, so this is exactly where the passion came from to be able to make sure that we can solve this major menace that is facing the industry. Ayooluwa said.

The Nigerian poultry sector has evolved steadily over the years despite the myriad of problems
facing the sector.

The industry supports more than 13 million households, who derive their livelihood and earn part or all of their income from the poultry industry.

He said however that Nigerian poultry farmers, who are major actors in the sector, are faced with the challenge of inputs, which has constituted a serious bottleneck to the growth of the industry.