According to the Poultry Association of Nigeria, the industry’s difficulties have caused more than 30% of poultry farms in the country to close in the last six months. This was said by PAN’s National Publicity Secretary,
Mr. Godwin Egbebe, in a Tuesday interview in Lagos with the News Agency of Nigeria. Egbebe blamed the development on the high operating costs, pointing out that this also raised the price of eggs throughout the nation.
“About 30 percent of local poultry farmers nationwide have shut down their farms due to the hardship faced in the sector in the first half of the year.
“The government needs to know the severity of the situation poultry farmers are facing in the sector.
“The palliatives are not alleviating the ills in the sector, we seek sustainable solutions to the problems on the ground.
“The palliatives most times even end in wrong places rather than with legitimate farmers. Most farmers are leaving the sector because they cannot sustain the cost of operating their farms. Some have sold their cages and some have sold their farms,” Egbebe said to NAN
On the other hand, he advised nearby chicken producers to wait it out and not to abruptly cease their operations.
“We are appealing to our members that the current challenges in the sector is just a phase and they should not give up on the sector.
“There is actually no sector of the country that is not going through challenges currently, but we cannot allow the sector to collapse.
“If the farmers sell off all their cages and equipment, they may not be able to come back to the sector when things get better,” he said.
He attributed the sector’s biggest difficulty to the rising cost of feed.
“The price of poultry produce keeps increasing because the price of feed increases every other week.
“As of two weeks ago, we bought 25kg of feed at N14,300, just this past weekend, it is now N14,800.
“Early this year, we bought a bag for N12,000 and it sold for N9,000 last year. The increment is affecting the sector.
“Transportation cost is also another major bane of the sector, transportation of poultry produce increases the cost,” he said.
The PAN Lagos State Chairman, Mr. Mojeed Iyiola, had ascribed the increase in egg prices to a shortage brought on by some poultry producers closing their farms.
“The reason for the current hike in the price of eggs is that eggs are very scarce now.
“Most farmers have sold off their old layers, and to get new stock is very expensive as the price of a day-old chick is becoming unbearable.
“Farmers able to buy day-old chicks are considered to be well-to-do. Also, a majority of our local farmers have shut down their farms due to the high cost of feed.”
