The Poultry Association of Nigeria reported on Monday that poultry farms all over the country are currently ceasing operations due to the ongoing increase in the price of maize, a key feed for birds in the industry.
According to PAN, if the government didn’t intervene to save the industry, Nigeria’s poultry subsector was doomed to failure.
“The poultry business in Nigeria is currently on the edge of catastrophic collapse if urgent action is not directed towards it without further delay,” the group stated in a statement on Monday.
“We know the government has proclaimed a state of emergency over the country’s food security crisis, but the situation of the poultry industry calls for an urgent intervention to save the industry from total collapse.”
According to the statement, farmers are closing down their poultry farms as it is no longer financially viable to feed the birds and operate the farms due to the sharp increase in the price of maize and the near absence or scarcity of the product.
Additionally, research showed that after maize imports dropped by 97.91%, the price of eggs, a daily source of protein for many Nigerians, increased by approximately 118.34%.
The National Bureau of Statistics reported that the cost of a single medium-sized agricultural egg increased from N40.84 in May 2020 to N89.17 in May 2023. This was when maize, a key ingredient of poultry feeds, fell to $1.82m as of the end of 2022 from $87.08m as of the end of 2020 according to data from the International Trade Center.
The CBN added maize to its list of goods prohibited from obtaining foreign exchange in 2020, prompting the Federal Government to enact a restriction on maize imports into the nation.
Despite Nigeria’s restriction on maize imports, the country’s domestic crop has suffered as a result of persistent banditry in the north.
Since maize accounts up more than 50% of feed, the cost of feeds is significantly rising as a result of the price of maize. Due to serious barriers to local production, maize prices are rising.
A veterinarian and additional farmer, Akintade Akintayo, claimed that the primary cause of the increase in egg costs was the cost of food. He bemoaned the fact that the cost of New Hope feeds, a chicken feed, had tripled in the previous two weeks.
