The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has warned that prices of eggs may increase from the current N5,500 to N10,000 per crate if urgent measures are not taken to support poultry farmers.
The rising cost of the protein is attributed to the high cost of transportation as a result of fuel subsidy removal as well as the indiscriminate increase in feed prices by the millers.
Musa Hakeem, PAN Secretary, FCT chapter, said this at a press briefing to commemorate World Egg Day on Saturday in Abuja.
Hakeem said the Federal Government must, as a matter of urgency, declare a state of emergency on egg production in the country given the serious decline in protein intake, saying Nigerians cannot afford to depend on the importation of eggs.
He pointed out, “If we should go by the proportional increase in the prices of these factors mentioned earlier, we will be buying eggs at N10,000 per create, but because we wanted to be compassionate, coupled with the importance of eggs for health, we left the price at the current price of N5,500.”
Hakeem warned that the prices of the protein may change soon to N6,000 going by the increasing prices of poultry feed.
He said, “To the best of my knowledge, the last time we received any grain intervention from the government was three years ago, saying other responses by the government to cushion the high prices of food are only read on the pages of the newspaper.
He called on the government to ensure that they incorporate PAN into their intervention activities, as they possess data on all poultry farmers in the FCT.
He bemoaned the government’s neglect of the poultry subsector over time, stating that business owners have been operating independently and hoped that the industry would not collapse.
The Chief Executive Officer of Pest Agro Dealers, Jude Arikogu, lamented the indiscriminate increase in prices of feed by millers and also the low measurement of the feeds, saying “a 25 kg bag of feed is hardly up to 23 kg when put on our scale.”
Arikogu also lamented that poultry farmers are unable to raise finance from the banks as banks are not willing to finance them.
Former PAN executive Ibrahim Lamidi said the business environment is not favourable to them as they are only trying to ensure Nigerians have eggs on the table.
Lamidi encouraged Nigerians to always eat eggs in place of meat, saying eggs are more proteinous and cheaper.
