Eggs Glut: Poultry farmers appeal to Plateau government

The Plateau chapter, of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), has called on the Plateau Government and other stakeholders to help mop up excess eggs caused by an egg glut in the state.

Vice Chairman of the association, Mr Hyacienth Na’anmiap, made the call in an interview with blueprint correspondent in Jos, at which he said that the glut was affecting their business in the state.
“As a result, there are so many large and small scale poultry farms
all over the state,” he said. “In every 10 houses in Jos for instance, seven of the houses have poultry farms.”

Mr. Na’anmiap added that a crate of eggs, which was being sold for between N680 and N700 in February this year, crashed to about N400 because of excess production.
He lamented that in spite of the radical drop in the price, there were still no buyers and being perishable, most eggs do go bad before they were bought.

Na’anmiap explained that:“In spite of the drop in price, the cost of feeding the birds is still very high because a bag of poultry feed, depending on the brand, still goes for between N1,950 to N2,250.The situation is making some farmers to sell off the birds to ease the challenge of feeding them at no particular gain.”

He further said: “We are calling on the state government to step in as it did in 2012 to save the industry, which is a mainstay of the Plateau economy, from collapse.
“We are also calling on other stakeholders; feed millers, hatcheries, NGOs and other organisations to also come in and assist in salvaging the situation.”