The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) urged President Bola Tinubu’s administration to intervene immediately in response to the astronomical increase in the cost of poultry feeds.
The association stated that failure by the government to take immediate action to mitigate this challenge would result in the total collapse of the poultry sub-sector of the economy.
Mr. Hakeem Musa, Secretary of PAN, FCT Chapter, made the call during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
Musa, Chief Executive Officer of Mushak Agro Consult, expressed concern about the ongoing increase in feed prices, adding that the government could intervene by providing farmers with grants to help them stay in business.
Musa cited layers mash as an example, stating that a 25kg bag of feed at the end of November cost N8,000.
Furthermore, the first week of last month increased to N9,100, the second week to N9,350, and the third to N9,550.
He did, however, say that the same bag of feed now costs N10,950.
“Nobody knows if this increment will stop anytime soon because November and December are supposed to be months of maize surplus, and if it is this expensive, what can we expect in February and March?
“We are praying that President Tinubu’s administration will focus attention on the industry, and we are also confident and hopeful that intervention will be provided to the country’s poultry sub-sector.
“The basic intervention we need is grant rather than loans to sustain the industry because farmers have lost a lot of money over time, so if they are taking “They will be unable to repay the loan,” he said.
The secretary attributed the high cost of feed to a lack of maize and soybeans, which are key ingredients in feed production, as well as a ban on maize imports.
According to him, the feed price increase has had a negative impact on farmers, as many farms have closed, and some other farmers have drastically reduced the capacity of their birds.
