The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) warned that egg prices will keep rising for Nigerians unless the FG intervenes as poultry farms keep closing down due to economic hardships including FX.
This was disclosed by Mr. Pius Aminu, Chairman, FCT Chapter of PAN, on Friday in Abuja in commemoration of the 2022 World Egg Day with the theme “Egg for better Life’’.
They urged FG to intervene in the sector with grants for farmers.
What PAN said:
They disclosed that the contributing factors to the hike in the price of eggs as the closure of most farms, lack of access to credit facilities by the farmers, high cost of maize, soybeans, and other micro-ingredients for poultry feed production.
PAN said, the increase in egg production is due to the high cost of feed across the country, thereby making it unaffordable to farmers, they also cited insecurity and lack of access roads to poultry farms among others, despite high demand.
Aminu lamented that at the moment, demand for the product was higher than the few farms presently in production.
“At the moment it’s very difficult for the price of eggs to come down, rather it will continue to rise because the demand is higher than supply due to a number of farms that have closed down.
“We are not sure how much we are going to buy eggs in the next month, it may go as high as N2,500 or more as the case may be.
“Exchange rates is really affecting micro ingredients used to formulate feed; so, for now, we do not know but definitely I can’t guarantee that price will remain as it is now,’’ he said.
PAN urged FG to assist farmers through the provision of grants, making loan facilities flexible and easily accessible to farmers as well as guaranteeing their security.
Mrs. Edith Onyeji, Financial Secretary of PAN, urged the government to aid farmers in the area of marketing as well as a value addition for eggs through the provision of technology to convert eggs to powder form among others.
What you should know
- The current price of a crate of eggs ranges between N1800 to N2, 000.
- Recall Nairametrics reported last month that The closely watched indicator, food inflation rose to 23.12% in August 2022, representing a 1.1%-point increase compared to 22.02% recorded in the previous month. On a month-on-month basis, the food inflation rate in July stood at 1.98%, this is 0.07% lower than 2.04% recorded in the previous month.
- According to the NBS, the rise in food inflation was caused by increases in prices of bread and cereals, Food product, Potatoes, yams, and other tubers, fish, meat, oil, and fat.
