News in brief: Poultry farmers in Nigeria are urging the government to address the high cost of bird feeds, warning of dire consequences for the industry and nutrition. The country’s poultry association called for urgent government intervention to save the sector, highlighting its crucial role in job provision and nutrition for the country.
Poultry farmers in Nigeria have decried the high cost of bird feeds and are calling for government’s intervention. They also warned of dire consequences to the industry and general nutrition if challenges are not addressed.
Association leaders called for urgent action to be taken to reverse negative trends bedeviling the sector. They cite high cost of feeds as well as the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) uncooperative attitude toward their plight.
In a statement signed by the national president of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Chief Sunday Ezeobiora, and obtained by reporters, the body called for urgent government intervention to save the poultry industry from total collapse.
The statement highlights the critical importance of the subsector in job provision and nutrition for Nigerians. The poultry industry is a major subset of the agricultural sector and generates 25% of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Products (GDP) of the country.
Eggs, a major product from poultry farming, is an healthy alternative source of animal protein for many Nigerians when they cannot afford meat and fish. Nigeria consumes about 596,000 metric tons of eggs and this demand could go unfulfilled if poultries cannot continue operating.
The PAN alleged that the institutions received an allocation of 40,000 metric tons of maize to assist poultry production in the country as part of the Strategic Maize Reserve project of the Accelerated Agriculture Programme of the CBN. However, farmers did not benefit from the initiative, as it was cancelled two weeks into disbursement. Efforts to re-establish the connection, they claim, were abortive as the CBN failed to respond to their enquiries.
They requested that the federal government look into the matter while calling on the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (FMARD) to further assist poultry farmers with 20,000 metric tons of grains for bird feed. The body believes this intervention would bolster efforts to revamp the industry and guarantee its productivity.
