As poultry feeds crisis bite harder, farmers ask CBN to stop funding middlemen

Nigeria’s multi-billion naira poultry sector has continued to suffer under the recurring high cost of feeds, Daily Trust reports.

Already, poultry owners have raised the alarm on the likelihood that the industry will not survive the current feed challenges if immediate interventions are not provided.

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Stakeholders in the sector say without timely intervention, about N5 trillion worth of investments would be affected and over 10 million jobs put on the line.

Maize and soybeans are the main and critical components of poultry feeds and their prices have continued to rise since April 2020.

According to recent statistics from the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), maize that was sold for N80,000 per ton and soybeans N120,000 per ton in January 2020, now cost N200,000 per ton for maize and N250,000 per ton for soybeans in January 2021.

The statistics further showed that the annual poultry industry requirement for maize is about 4.5 million tons while that of soybean is about 1.2 million metric tons.

Soybean production in the country this year stands at 900,000 metric tons, showing a shortage of 300,000 metric tons. There is a similar shortfall in maize production.

Director-General of the Poultry Association of Nigeria Onallo S. Akpa, while highlighting the current challenges of the poultry industry which is confronted by the absence and high cost of raw materials, said the country was on the verge of losing N5 trillion investments and 10 million jobs.

Stop funding grains aggregators

Poultry farmers under the aegis of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) have asked the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to stop releasing funds to grains aggregators whom they accused of mopping and hoarding maize and soybeans.

The Director-General of the association, Onallo S. Akpa, urged “the CBN to immediately halt the release of funds to grains aggregators, who are currently responsible for the mopping up of maize and soybean along with other commodities from warehouses only to hoard to create scarcity and trigger high prices.”

The farmers also want the federal government to intervene immediately and stop the export of soybeans – both seeds and soybean meal (SBM) and maize – to any part of the world and allow the importation of 1.5 million metric ton of maize and 750,000 metric tons of soybeans for the next 10 months.

They also want government to release grains that have stayed for long in the Strategic Grains Reserve (SGR) to the poultry industry through the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN).

Minimum guaranteed prices

The DG advised government to be the buyer of last resort at “minimum guaranteed prices” instead of competing for commodities at contract prices with consumers and farmers at the period of harvest of maize, soybeans, sorghum and other cereals.

Dr Akpa said: “Allow the immediate importation of maize and soybeans only to feed millers, established and identified poultry farmers and certainly not traders with exemption from payment of duty, VAT and other taxes while assisting the importers to access foreign exchange at the official exchange rate.

“The government will have to intervene immediately to drive the market of maize by allowing for the importation of maize into the country so as to curb and contain the imminent hunger in the land and the complete shutting down of the poultry industry as a result of the high cost of production.”

Multiple taxations

The farmers also require that multiple taxations on agricultural commodities and products of the poultry industry by the various states internal revenue boards or agencies be critically looked into by the Joint Tax Board toward abolishing all illegal revenue collection agencies and taskforces.

PAN also called for the promotion of pro-poor rural poultry development programme to reduce the rural-urban migration of youths and to strengthen women, who are strong agents for poultry development through increased investments in rural infrastructure, agricultural research and development.

A competent source at the apex bank, who admitted the high cost of maize and soyabeans in the market, assured that about 300,000 metric tons of maize would be released next month.

The source said poultry farmers would be considered during the exercise.