Poultry farmers groan as feed prices soar

Poultry farmers have called for the urgent intervention of President Bola Tinubu’s administration in the surging cost of poultry feeds.

The farmers, under the aegis of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), on Friday, warned that failure of the government to take action to mitigate this challenge would lead to a total collapse of the poultry sub-sector of the economy.

Hakeem Musa, secretary of PAN, FCT chapter, made the call in an interview with NAN in Abuja.

Musa, who is the CEO of Mushak Agro Consult, said the government could intervene by way of grants to enable the farmers to stay in business.

Citing an example with layers mash, Musa said a 25kg bag of feed as of November 2023, was over N8,000; by the first week of December, it rose to N9,100, by the second week, N9,350, and by the third week, it surged to N9,550.

He, however, said that at the moment the same bag of feed had risen to N10,950.

“Nobody knows whether this increment is going to stop anytime soon because November and December are supposed to be time for a surplus of maize, but if it is this expensive, what are we expecting from February and March?

“We are praying that President Tinubu’s administration will focus attention on the industry and also confident and hopeful that intervention will be given to the poultry sub-sector of the country.

“The basic intervention we need is grants, not loans, to sustain the industry because over time, farmers have lost a lot of money, so if they are taking loans now, they will not be able to pay back,” he said.

The secretary attributed the high cost of feed to inadequate maize and soybeans being major ingredients for feed production as well as a ban on maize importation.

According to him, the hike in feed has negatively impacted the farmers as a lot of farms have shut down while some other farmers have also reduced the capacity of their birds drastically.