Poultry farmers are closing down business because of rising prices of maize and other feed ingredients for raising chickens and eggs, vital daily sources of protein for individuals and households across the country.
The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), which raised the alarm on Tuesday, said the sector will crash totally if the government fails to intervene.
“At the moment, the poultry industry in Nigeria is on the verge of total collapse if urgent intervention is not channelled to it without further delay.
PAN’s National President, Sunday Ezeobiora and Director-General, Onallo Akpa, in a statement they jointly signed, said, “We are aware that the government has declared a state of emergency on the food security situation of the country, but the situation of the poultry industry calls for an urgent intervention to save the industry from total collapse”.
“The high surge in the price of maize and the near absence or scarcity of the product is 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. This is threatening the further development of the Nigerian poultry industry”, they further lamented.
The price of eggs has risen 118.34 percent after maize importation fell 97.91 percent. Maize accounts for between 60 percent and 70 percent of poultry feed, and the restriction on maize imports has translated to a rise in the price of eggs.
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data shows the price of a medium sized “agric egg” increased from N40.84 in May 2020 to N89.17 in May 2023.
Nigeria’s maize imports dropped from $87.08 million in 2020 to $1.82 million in 2022, according to data from the International Trade Centre (ITC).
