Hundreds of poultry farmers under the aegis of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) have said the country’s borders will be automatically shut on either smuggled or legalised imports of poultry products if enough fund is made available to farmers at a cheap interest rate.
Recall that the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) has been warning against the consumption of the formalin-preserved poultry products imported into the country even before the land border closure done against unchecked imports of various products into the country, saying the consumption of such products is unhealthy and injurious to human.
But, the poultry farmers have now asked the Federal Government to come up with a controlled interest rate payable on loan invested in the production, processing and distribution of poultry products. This is as the current double-digit interests on loan being granted by commercial banks and other financial institutions are making the market less competitive and prices much more expensive than the imported ones.
Speaking at the Nigeria Poultry Show 2019 tagged, “Nigeria Poultry Industry: Managing the Value Chain for National Development” held in Abeokuta on Tuesday, Ezekiel Ibrahim, president of PAN, says the poultry farmers have potentials and capacity to produce enough poultry products, but lack of fund and expensive interests payable on loan make locally- produced poultry products less competitive and attractive.
Read also; Lessons from NAFDAC’s feats and food safety
The president, who was represented by Joseph Aladesuyi, general secretary at the Poultry Show organised by PAN, noted that market forces were enough to shut border on the imported poultry products if the prices were right and competitive internationally, just as he assured Nigerians that poultry farmers were capable of controlling prices of products effectively if right economic climate was provided for them.
He said, “We are suffering from high interest rate from banks, though Federal Government gives some of our members from Anchor Borrower Loan, not all of us benefitted. That is why government must help us on banks’ interests and grants.
“We need to reach a consensus on how to reduce prices of chicken from hatchery level, our hatchery operators must do something about the cost. Yes, it is good that Federal Government policy is favourable to us on border closure, we must also consider the cost of our products so as not to discourage people from buying and consuming the locally-made poultry products.”
Meanwhile, NAFDAC has warned poultry farmers not to capitalise on border closure and use growth promoter which enhances undue growth of chicken at the detriment of human healthy living, saying the use of antibiotics to hasten the growth and production of poultry products should be discouraged among the farmers.
Moji Adeyeye, NAFDAX director-general, who was represented by Akin Fagoroye, said, “Now that the border has been shut, I want to plead with farmers to please, let us stop sharp practices, let us stop the use of antibiotics as growth promoter, we want Nigeria to be food secure, if we have food security and we don’t have the food safety, then it will affect sound and healthy living and our population.”
