The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has lamented that a good number of poultry farmers have closed farms over incessant losses due to the high cost of transportation and other farm inputs, while others who couldn’t abandon the business have downsized their capacity.
The PAN Chairman, Lagos State chapter, Mr. Godwin Egbebe, while speaking with journalists on the issue, identified the activities of bandits; the high cost of transportation; and insufficient supply of grains caused by the Ukraine/Russia crisis as the major challenges affecting the industry.
The price of various poultry products such as eggs, chickens, and day-old chicks has increased astronomically in the last few months. To make matters worse, they have become very scarce in open markets and are not readily available, adding to the agony of end users.
Unilorin Gets N600 Million CBN Loan to Finance Poultry Farm
A crate of eggs, which sold for between N750 and N800 around this time last year, currently sells for between N2, 200 and N2, 500. A kilogram of processed chicken, previously sold between N1, 200 and N1, 400, is currently selling between N1, 850 and N2, 000 at the farm gate price.
Egbebe noted that many farmers prefer to fold up instead of buying raw materials at a very high price and ending up selling the produce at a rate that doesn’t commensurate with the high cost of production.
Poor Finance, Logistics, Insecurity Fueling High Cost of Food
“The issue is not farfetched. We talked about the bandits that are not allowing the farmers to operate again. Then, transporting the few grains we have from the North has become difficult because of the high cost of transportation. We used to transport a trailer of maize from the North for about N350, 000, but as we speak now, it costs over N1 million” Egbebe said
