Poultry farming has had its share of the consequences of government policies lately. BAYO AGBOOLA reports on one of such.
Going by the lamentations of the leadership of Poultry Farmers Association of Nigeria (PAN) in the South-west states of Oyo, Lagos, Ogun, Osun Ondo and Ekiti, there is no doubt in the fact that the last five months have not been the best for poultry industry in the zone and Nigeria as a country.
With the tales of woes narrated by the poultry farmers at a press conference in Ibadan a fortnight ago, the industry without wasting time needs real intervention and revival from the federal government in order to forestal imminent collapse of the sub-sector.
The poultry farmers complains
Led by its chairman in the South-west region, Rev Gideon Oluleye, the poultry farmers minced little or no words in alerting the public about the dangers placed on the industry by the recently introduced various policies of the federal government through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the form of naira redesign as well as the unabated security challenges across the country.
Rev Oluleye maintained that “Poultry farmers in the South-west and the entire country are facing challenges due to the financial crisis brought about by the federal government’s policies of naira redesign. This policy of CBN has brought about untold hardship on our farmers and investments on their farms. We the farmers are not against this policy, but its timing and implementation strategy brought untold hardship on farmers. We want to let the government know that the losses incurred by farmers are heavy and crushing. A lot of farms have collapsed, others are running at half capacity while many others would soon close down, if the government does not come to the aid of poultry farmers.
“As we speak now, between 15 – 20 million crates of eggs are in the economy looking for buyers. In order to save the poultry subsector of the economy, generating about 6% of the GDP from total collapse, the federal and state governments, the Central Bank of Nigeria and all other agencies of government concerned must rise up and intervene in this subsector of the economy.
“The intervention should come in the areas such as 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 IDP’s and all our correctional centres all over the country. Some could also be used in government hospital where meals are served as eggs to help in quick recovery and in building up immunity of sick patients.”
According to the South-west PAN chairman he noted that, “We also want the federal government as a matter of urgency to resuscitate the school feeding programme as eggs and chicken meat form the major component of the programme. This would go a long way in absolving some of the eggs and chicken meat from the farmers. We are also pleading to the federal, states and the Central Bank of Nigeria 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.
We also want to use this medium to appeal to the international grants and donor agencies like; IFAD, N.G cares, World Bank, Private Financial Advisory Network (PFAN) etc to come to the aid of poultry farmers in Nigeria and particularly South-west region with grants and financial aid to poultry farmers as the poultry sector had already been devastated by Covid-19 and the policy of naira redesign to the extent that over 25 million Nigerians employed in the sector may loose their jobs very soon.
Envisaged solution(s)
“The federal and state governments should also embark on strategic investments in the poultry subsector of the economy. Some of such strategic investments are setting up of egg powder processing factory at least one in each geopolitical region of the country, establishment of large chicken processing facilities of international standard where chicken meat can be processed for export to other countries. This would as well inturn generate foreign exchange for the country. A lot of farmers are running on loans 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 outright cancellation of the loan. This would enable farmers to recover and save the sector from collapse.”
He stressed further that the time is now for the federal government to rescue the poultry industry by putting in place among others an emergency measure, saying, “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 with the value of which is over two hundred million is bad market. Mopping up this eggs and chicken meat now will be a good measure in preventing the sector from imminent collapse.”
Speaking with one voice
To other PAN chapters including PAN Chairmen from Oyo, Omidokun Oyekunle, Iyiola Mojeed (Lagos), Alonge Oluwasetemi (Ekiti) Fadipe Olawande (Ondo), Idowu Asenuga (Ogun) and Alaba Towoju (Osun), it has not been a positive story and palatable experiences considering unfolding events in their various states ranging from the naira redesign policies which reared its head late last year.
Therefore with the series of complains by the leadership of the poultry association in the country, without doubt there is an urgent need for the government to come and reel out necessary palliative measure to prevent the situation from getting worst particularly with the claim by the poultry farmers that with the recent federal government policies of naira redesign through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the members of the association in South-west states alone has lost close to N40 billion since the commencement of the naira redesign which in turn has led to loss for many of the hands in the poultry industry in the past over five months .
To avert total collapse of the industry in the critical situation of Nigeria’s economy, particularly the alert by the poultry farmers that poultry farmers in the South west and the entire country are facing financial crisis brought about by the federal government’s policies of naira redesign, it will not be out of point for stakeholders in the industry to see beyond the nose about the need to ensure timely revival of the industry. It could be recalled that last year, former President Olusegun Obasanjo made a similar remark that poultry farmers were going through hard times continuing in the business. That is why the recent complain should be treated seriously.
