Poultry Farmers Appeal to FG, CBN to Save Their Business from Collapse

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

Poultry farmers in the Southwest under the aegis of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), yesterday raised the alarm over their plight, calling on the federal government and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to save their business from total collapse.
This was just as they lamented that the naira redesign policy by the federal government brought untold hardship on them and their investments across the nation, particularly in the south-west.

The South-west Chairman of PAN, Gideon Oluleye, while speaking in Ibadan, yesterday, during a press conference, said though they were not against the policy, its timing and implementation have devastated their business.
He stated that the losses incurred by farmers were heavy because many farms had already collapsed with others running at half capacity while many may soon close down if the government fails to intervene.

He noted that to save the poultry subsector of the economy which generates about six per cent of the GDP from total collapse, the federal government, CBN and other agencies of government must intervene.
Oluleye who was flanked by PAN Chairmen from Oyo, Omidokun Oyekunle, Iyiola Mojeed (Lagos), Alonge Oluwasetemi (Ekiti) Fadipe Olawande (Ondo), Idowu Asenuga (Ogun) and Alaba Towoju (Osun) and other leaders of the association, explained that polices such as increment in interest rate affected the industry negatively.

He lamented that the current security challenges across the country has also affected the industry negatively.
He enjoined the federal government to re-introduce the school feeding programme so as to absolve some of the eggs and chicken meat from the farmers, while also urging the federal government to intervene in subsidising major inputs particularly maize and soya much more than they have been doing before.
According to him, “In order to save the poultry subsector of the economy, generating about six per cent of the GDP from total collapse, the federal and state governments, the CBN and all other agencies of government concerned, must rise up and intervene in this subsector of the economy. The intervention should come in the following areas;  

“Mopping up of about 15 – 20 million crates of eggs and chicken unsold in the economy right now to ameliorate the losses of the farmers.
“These products should be used in feeding the people in IDPs and all our correctional centres all over the country. Some could also be used in government hospital where meals are served as eggs helps in quick recovery and in building up immunity of sick patients.”

Speaking further, he said: “We also want the federal government as a matter of urgency to resuscitate the school feeding programme as eggs and chicken meat forms the major component of the programme. This will go a long way in absolving some of the eggs and chicken meat from the farmers.  

“We are also pleading with the federal, states and CBN to intervene now in subsidising major imputes particularly maize and soya much more than they have been doing before. This will also help in ameliorating the negative impact of the naira redesign policy of the government on the farmers.

“A lot of farmers are running on loan and as a result of this crisis, they could not meet their loan obligation any more. We want the CBN and the federal government to help in defraying part of the loan and in some cases out right cancellation of the loan. This will enable farmers to recover and save the sector from collapsing.”

According to him, “As an emergency measure, let the federal government constitute a committee that will begin the process of mopping up all unsold eggs and chicken meat due to naira redesign policies as these eggs are already going bad. A situation where a single farmer has a hundred thousand crates of eggs unsold in the farm now, the value of which is over two hundred million.

“Mopping up this eggs and chicken meat now, will be a good measure in preventing the sector from imminent collapse.”