Livestock farmers under the aegis of the Poultry Association of Nigerian (PAN) have appealed to the Federal Government to save the N10 trillion industry from collapse due to rising prices of bird feeds.
The poultry farmers explained that the feed inputs such as soya beans are going out of reach of an average poultry farmer with the price of the commodity now increased from N115,000 that was sold per ton in August to N215,000 in November, 2020, representing an increase of 86.95% within a four-month period.
In a statement, the Chairperson of PAN in Ogun State, Mrs Blessing Alawode said: “As of today, maize is N145,000, soya is N215,000, this represents 86.95% increase in four months and commercial feeds at N4,400, while the market is already resisting a tray of egg for above N1,000.”
She said the prices of eggs and chickens might go out of reach of many Nigerians, selling between N5,000 and N10,000 during Christmas.
The National President, Mr. Ezekiel Ibrahim Mam, told our correspondent in Osogbo that the industry worth’s over N10 trillion might collapse due to high cost of essential inputs and other factors threatening the industry.
“The poultry industry engages over 20 million Nigerians in direct and indirect employment, providing the families with cheap protein sources while sustaining family livelihoods.”
He said the poultry industry feed cost is about 75% of the cost of poultry production, and that this has risen by over 75% between March and November, 2020. “In March, the price of finished feed sold between N2,650 to N3,000 is now selling between N4,600 – N5,300 per 25kg bag.”
He warned that if the ugly situation persists, it would lead to closure of small and medium sized poultry farms thereby threatening about 5m to 10m jobs.
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