Poultry industry on verge of total collapse, PAN cries to Tinubu

Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has told President Bola Tinubu that if urgent steps are not taken, the Poultry industry will collapse totally.

The farmers said that the poultry industry which contributes 25 per cent to the Agricultural Gross Domestic Products (AGDP) is being starved of maize which is an essential component in producing feed for chicken.

They further stated that the high surges of prices of Maize and the near absence or scarcity of the product are causing farmers to close down their poultry farms at the moment because it is no longer sustainable to feed the birds and be in business thereby threatening the further development of the Nigerian poultry industry.

This is contained in a statement signed by the National President of PAN, Chief Sunday Ezeobiora and the Director General of the Association, Onallo Akpa.

The statement said “It will interest Nigerians to know that as part of the measures to ensure the food security of the nation through the supply of cheap protein to Nigerians, the poultry industry in the country has benefited from the allocation of Maize from the Strategic Food Reserve (SFR) of the Federal Government as well as the Strategic Maize Reserve (SMR) Programme of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) anchored on the Accelerated Agriculture programmes CBN.

“In the current dispensation and scheme of things, the Poultry industry is being frustrated by the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) and the SMR of the CBN whence it was allocated 40,000 Metric tons of Maize to assist poultry production in the country and in two weeks, they cancelled the allocation and stopped poultry farmers from lifting the Maize on the conditions best known to them and thereby majorly contributing to the high prices of Maize in the markets because of holding down their stocks of Maize.

The farmers said the poultry industry in Nigeria is the most critical subsector of Nigeria’s Agriculture, and allowing the industry to collapse on the watch of Nigerians in situations where there are visible immediate solutions will be a disaster for the industry and the Protein supply and nutrition security for the country.

PAN therefore prayed to the Federal Government to “direct both the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which manages the Strategic Maize Reserve Programme (SMRP) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to free the allocations of 40,000 metric tons to the Poultry industry through the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN).

“The Government should direct the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural to release 20,000 Metric Tons of Maize from the Strategic Food Reserves of the Ministry to the Poultry industry through the Poultry Association of Nigeria at discounted prices so as to mitigate the current challenges to the Poultry industry in the country.

“That the allocations by both organizations should be at the rate (price) per metric ton that the allocations were made understanding that these organizations are to intervene in critical sectors of the economy for developmental purposes and not merchandise.

“The Poultry industry is the low-hanging fruit to achieve the overall objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals ( SDG), and providing employment while producing affordable home-grown proteins to Nigerians.

“Since the poultry industry is the most capitalised subsector of Nigerian Agriculture, every effort and support should be given to the subsector so that the industry does not collapse and the country once more becomes dumping grounds for all sorts of poultry and poultry products from abroad.”