Poultry industry will collapse unless govt lifts ban on maize importation–Farmers
Poultry farmers in the country under the aegis of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) have said that Nigeria’s poultry face the danger of imminent collapse unless the Federal Government intervens urgently by lifting its recent ban on importation of maize into the country.
Addressing journalists in Ilorin, the Kwara State capital, the State Chairman of the association, Pastor Adeniyi Solomon Olufemi, said despite fact that the industry provides millions of jobs for the populace, it has not been given the necessary attention and support like other sub sectors of agriculture in the country by both the federal and Kwara State governments.
He said: “Poultry industry provides millions of jobs for Nigerians ranging from those hawking eggs on the streets to the poultry attendants on the farms, the hatchery workers, veterinary Doctors, to mention but a few involved in the poultry value chain.”
He added: “This multi-trillion naira industry I.e. the poultry sub sector of agriculture is one of the main sectors contributing immensely to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the food security of the poultry.”
Mr Olufemi lamented that maize which is a major component of poultry feeds, constituting about 50 to 70 per cent of the chicken feed, sells today at N180 per kg from the previous selling price of N80 per kg, and therefore urged the Federal Government to immediately lift the ban on importation of maize to cushion the effects of Covid-19 pandemic on the industry.
He said: “It is really unfortunate for a ban to be placed on importation of maize at a critical time like this when poultry industry is just striving to crawl out of the strangulating effects of lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic which almost killed the industry with little or no patronage of eggs and chicken which made farmers to bury eggs and chicken as a result of spoilage. We urge the Federal Government to release the maize in the silo towards salvaging the situation.
“If positive action is not taken to reverse the situation at hand, the imminent collapse of poultry industry in Nigeria is inevitable. Consequently, millions of Nigerians will lose their jobs, then how will the poultry farmers be able to pay back the loans the took from banks and then how can economic stability and food security be attained?”
State Chairman, Veterinary Medical Association, Dr. Saka Shittu and State Chairman, Feedmillers Association, Alhaji Musa Yusuf corroborated what the poultry association chairman said, urging both the federal and the Kwara State governments to urgently intervene to safe millions of jobs and the industry from total collapse.