Poultry farmers fear collapse due to inability to feed birds
The crisis in Nigeria’s Poultry industry could get much worse as farmers lose the capacity to feed their birds, due to rising costs of maize and scarcity.
This was disclosed in a joint statement signed by Chief Sunday Ezeobiora, National President of PAN, and Onallo Akpa, Director General of the association, on Monday in Abuja.
Nigeria’s Poultry industry was negatively affected this year by the naira scarcity which led to a glut and intervention in some states.
Crisis
The Poultry chief noted that the industry is on the verge of collapse if urgent steps are not taken to address the situation.
They added the rising cost of prices of maize and the scarcity of the product, as the cause of farmers closing down their poultry farms at the moment, urging farmers are no longer able to feed the birds and be in business, thereby threatening further development of the Nigerian poultry industry.
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“We are aware that the government has declared a state of emergency on food security in the country, but the situation of the poultry industry calls for an urgent intervention to save the industry from total collapse.
“The poultry industry is one of the most critical sub-sectors of agriculture and allowing the industry to collapse on the watch of Nigerians, will be a disaster.
“Also, a disaster to the protein supply and nutrition security for the country.
Commodity Exchange
The association also made known their frustrations with the Commodity Exchange (NCX) and the Strategic Maize Reserve (SMR) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), over a canceled allocation, they said:
“The industry is currently being frustrated by the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) and the Strategic Maize Reserve (SMR) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), hence it was allocated 40,000 metric tonnes of maize to assist poultry production in the country.
“In two weeks, they canceled the allocation and stopped poultry farmers from lifting the maize for reasons best known to them, thereby contributing to the rising cost of the commodity.
FG intervention
They urged the NCX and the CBN, managers of the strategic maize reserve program, to ensure the release of the 40,000 metric tonnes allocation to the sector, to salvage it from imminent collapse.
They also pleaded to the Fg to direct the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, to release 20,000 metric tonnes of maize from its strategic food reserves to the industry, through the association at discounted prices.
“Since the poultry industry is the most capitalized sub-sector of Nigeria’s agriculture, every effort should be made and every support should be given to it, so that it does not collapse, making the country a dumping ground for all sorts of poultry and poultry products from abroad.
In case you missed it
Nairametrics reported last month that Nigeria’s Poultry Farmers Association called on the incoming administration to prioritize affordable access to grains for feed production, aiming to ease the high cost of poultry production.
Mr. Godwin Egbebe, the National Publicity Secretary of PAN, emphasized that the association’s members expect President Bola Tinubu’s administration to address this crucial issue.
“We also seek affordable access to grains for feed production to ease the cost of production.
“Commercial maize and soya are obtained from the North, and we are well aware of insecurity issues there as well as the high transport cost.
“These are the factors that have made grains, sometimes, inaccessible and when accessible, costly,’’
He added that before the insecurity issues made ease of business harder, a ton of grain went for between N200,000 and N220,000, and now, a ton of grain was sold for between N290,000 and N310,000.
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