PAN: Poultry Industry on the Verge of Collapse, 15m Crates of Eggs Lost to Naira Scarcity

Gilbert Ekugbe

The Poultry Farmers Association of Nigeria (PAN) has raised the alarm that Nigeria’s ailing poultry industry is on the verge of total collapse as a result of the naira scarcity.

The National President of PAN, Mr. Sunday Onallo-Akpa, stated that over 15 million crates of eggs worth over N30 billion have been lost to the negative effect of naira scarcity in the country. 

Onallo-Akpa also said in a statement that the new currency policy is having severe impact on the industry and causing untold hardship for its members and stakeholders.

He described the poultry industry in Nigeria as one of the most consolidated sub-sectors of Nigeria’s agriculture that is contributing about 25 per cent of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (AGDP) and providing over 25 million direct and indirect employments. 

“The industry is completely private sector driven worth over N3 trillion. It has been able to contribute to the local domestication of investments in the country.

“Eggs being daily produced by poultry farmers since the first week of February 2023 till date have not been off-taken by 20 per cent because of the near absence and lack of the naira notes to buy basic food items and other necessary proteins like eggs and chickens,” the PAN’s president added.

He further called for urgent intervention by the federal government to save the industry from imminent collapse while appealing to the government to mop up the eggs through the association for distribution to the most vulnerable populations as part of the social investment support to Nigerians.