The Nigeria poultry industry have suffered a N200 million loss in the last year on the account of declining sales in chickens and eggs as well as the increase in the prices of inputs, Ayoola Oduntan, president, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) says.
The president said during the association’s summit held in Lagos recently that a lot of poultry farmers have suffered huge losses over the last year owing to their inability to sell off their increased production targeted at the Federal Government School Feeding Programme which is yet to take off nation-wide.
He stated that sales for poultry products in the country have continued to fall despite farmers paying higher prices for inputs, causing farmers to suffer huge losses.
According to him, poultry farmers are currently battling with problems of high cost of feeds, high cost of vaccines and low prices of eggs, stating that the business have not been profitable for farmers, with the combination of these problems.
A metric ton of maize now sells for N183, 130 in Lagos as against N100, 000 per ton sold in June last year, according to Novus Agro, an agro commodity price tracker This shows 83 percent increase in maize prices.
As a result, poultry farmers who use maize as a major raw material for feeds has been worst hit by the price increase as this has shut-up their production cost.
Similarly, the price of a create of eggs (big size) is sold for N900 as against N1,200 sold in January, while the small size goes for N700 as against N900 sold in January.
Most farmers have had to shut down their poultry farms due to the huge losses incurred while others still operating are trying to cut down on their losses, experts say.
Apart from high input costs and low demand for poultry products, the industry has had to contend with outbreak of Avian Influenza which affected almost four million birds in 2015. Most of the farmers affected are yet to recover from the loss.
The PAN President said that the farmers whose farmers were affected by Avian Influenza are yet to be compensated as many have gone out of business.
Oduntan urged the industry to imbibe new technology to reduce production costs and increase profitability.
In February, Yemi Osinbajo, Acting President, promised that the Federal Government is planning urgent relief to poultry farmers in the country to save the industry from collapse. He gave the indication during his second meeting with representatives of the poultry industry at the Presidential Villa.
The intervention is part of an urgent effort by the government to address challenges in the agricultural sub-sector in line with its policy on self-sufficiency in food production.
The Agricultural Promotion Policy document released by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture indicates that Nigeria’s annual chicken consumption is 200 million birds, while supply is 140 million birds, leaving a deficit of 60 million birds which is filled by illegal imports.
Josephine Okojie
