The meeting will be held on 15 January 2014 in Abuja, the capital city of the Nigerian Federation and its political centre. Farmers and integrators from throughout the country are registering to attend, as well as processors, retailers, government officials and representatives of the feed business.
With a population expected to grow to 700 million by 2050 and a strong economy backed by petrochemicals, Nigeria knows that its demand for animal protein will rise rapidly in the coming years. The federal government has declared agriculture and food production to be top priorities to meet this challenge and the expansion of the poultry and aquaculture sectors are key targets. Recently, Nigeria was named by Rabobank as one of the five most promising countries in the world for poultry production growth.
International experts in poultry and aquaculture will present the Abuja meeting with examples of technical best practices as the foundation for an efficient and effective expansion of animal protein supplies from the nation’s farms. There will also be a focus on investment opportunities in Nigeria and on encouraging young people and women to explore the potential for employment in the agricultural sector nationally.
This first-ever event for an African country has the official title of the VIV International Nigeria Summit, reflecting that it is being arranged as part of a series of roadshow activities visiting several continents on behalf of the VIV Europe 2014 global expo for poultry and livestock husbandry and processing. VIV Europe 2014 (www.viv.net) comes to Utrecht in The Netherlands between Tuesday, 20 May, and Thursday, 22 May.
To organise the international summit in Nigeria, the team behind VIV Europe are partnering with local agricultural corporation Nate Farms Enterprises Nigeria Ltd and the meeting has received support from several federal Nigerian government departments including the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Trade and Investment.
Its programme features parallel walk-in sessions of 30 minutes each which cover the major poultry themes: Feed and Nutrition; Breeding and Hatching; Farm Management; Health; and Processing and Handling. These sessions include remarks by specialists from a number of VIV Europe exhibitors for the poultry sector as well as an insight into broiler chain production in Brazil, arranged for the summit by the World’s Poultry Science Association.
A former President of the Nigerian branch of the WPSA, Professor Mrs Daisy Eruvbetine of the animal nutrition department at the University of Agriculture in Abeokuta, has agreed to be the featured speaker in discussions on the prospects and challenges facing feed and poultry industries in Nigeria. The health segments of the summit have been compiled with the assistance of the World Veterinary Poultry Association.
VIV International Nigeria Summit runs from 13:00 until 18:00 on Wednesday, 15 January 2014, at Sheraton Hotel Abuja, Nigeria. Attending is free of charge upon registration. More details are available online by clicking here.
