- Nigeria’s Poultry Farmers Association urges the new administration to ensure affordable access to grains for feed production to reduce the cost of production.
- Insecurity issues and high transport costs have made grains inaccessible and costly, leading to increased prices of poultry products.
- Making feed more accessible and affordable would result in lower prices of poultry products and contribute to food security in the poultry sub-sector.
Nigeria’s Poultry Farmers Association calls on the incoming administration to prioritize affordable access to grains for feed production, aiming to ease the high cost of poultry production.
In an interview, 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.
High expectations and access
Mr. Godwin Egbebe said the association’s expectation from the new administration is that they should be proactive in achieving food security, especially in the poultry sub-sector, he added:
- “We also seek for 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,’’
Grain prices
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, he added:
- “Once grains are accessible and affordable, we will have enough to produce feed for the birds.
- “This will also lead to a drop in prices of poultry products and the cost of production will be brought to the barest minimum,’’
- “It is going to be a win-win situation for all players across the poultry value chain.”
PAN noted that making feed accessible means animal proteins such as eggs and chicken are affordable for the average Nigerian, citing the egg glut within the sub-sector had subsided drastically as “some farmers have dropped out of the business, so we now have fewer egg producers.”
- “Presently, a crate of eggs sells at the farm gate from N2000 to N2200 depending on the size.
- “The price of eggs and other poultry products can only go down once we have affordable access to grains and subsequent decrease in production cost.”
What you should know
Poultry Farmers in Nigeria have complained about a glut in the sector, which has seen thousands of crates of eggs remain unsold, the issue was caused by a lack of naira during the naira scarcity and sunken costs of the Poultry farmers due to buying feed at high prices.
