Ikpeazu wants government to ban food importation

Abia State governor Okezie Ikpeazu, has called on the Federal Government to formulate and adopt policy, aimed at stopping the importation of foods, as a way of encouraging the cultivation and consumption of locally- produced foods

Ikpeazu, while making the proposal in a chat with newsmen in Umuahia, the state capital, said his government has plans to grow the state into becoming the poultry capital of the southeast geo-political zone.

The governor had in October 2015, in Atlanta, USA, promised to replicate the agriculture/poultry status of the area in Abia State.

He explained that under this projection, the government would, in collaboration with the Obasanjo Farms Ltd, establish a poultry village in the state, where farmers will take day old-chicks to for breeding, while government provides the facilities required for poultry production in the village.

Ikpeazu said the project was part of his government’s strives to revitalise agriculture and boost food production, adding that members of the state executive council will, from this farming season establish their own farms.

The governor, who pledged to give agriculture top priority, charged youths to take advantage of the project, which would also involve oil palm plantation, massive cassava and cocoa production, among others.