Over N12tr poultry industry ‘under policy siege,’ farmers cry out

Poultry farmers have said the federal government’s current fiscal policy may strangle the poultry industry into what it calls “total collapse.”

In a strongly worded press release signed by the National President, Ichie Sunday Ezeobiora, and Director General, Onallo S. Akpa, issued yesterday in Abuja, the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) said the “current policy and fiscal siege on the poultry industry in Nigeria” puts the “industry on the verge of total collapse.”

The poultry industry is an industry worth over N12 trillion and provides over 20 million direct and indirect jobs to Nigerians. The industry has, for the last five years, remained the No. 1 egg-producing nation in Africa and the No. 5 in broiler meat production in Africa.

The association, however, is worried about the consequences of the recent government’s pronouncement over a change in forex policy on 43 items, including rice and poultry products.

“The recent development from the pronouncement from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will make Nigeria revert to the pre-year 2000 when Nigeria was completely a dumping ground for all sorts of imported poultry products.

“Recall the cases of unhealthy frozen poultry meat stored with chemicals imported into the country. The implications of the recent policy of the removal of FOREX and the further explanation by the CBN that the products were not even banned in the first place contravenes the fiscal policy stand of the government and have obviously created an unacceptable impasse in poultry development.

“This recent announcement further heightened the fears of the farmers and investors in the poultry industry and compounded the already collapsing production in the sector,” the statement reads in part.

PAN called on the federal government to immediately “maintain the import restriction policy on frozen poultry products and eggs, as any attempt to succumb to pressures from anywhere will spell disasters not only to the poultry industry but to the entire Nigerian economy.”

The association also called for “immediate engagement with the association towards making available needed raw materials like maize and soya to revive the collapsing farms as the poultry industry is the most capitalised subsector of Nigerian agriculture,” PAN stated.