The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has warned that the cost of chicken during the yuletide might be as high as N10, 000 per unit.
The association said unless some urgent steps are taken by the federal government, the prohibitive price would make it impossible for average citizens to purchase chickens at the yuletide.
It said in a release Tuesday that with the unabated increase in feed prices, especially the prices of soya beans and soya bean meal, the prices of eggs and chickens are likely to be beyond the reach of many Nigerians.
The PAN Ogun state chapter chairperson, Blessing Alawode, therefore appealed to the federal government to save the Nigerian poultry industry from imminent collapse by stalling the spiraling prices of bird feeds and concentrates used to feed chickens.
She said the feed inputs such as soya beans are going out of reach of an average poultry farmer with the price of the commodity now increased from N115,000 per ton in August to N215,000 in November, 2020, representing an increase of 86.95 percent within a four-month period.
While demanding quick intervention from federal government and its agencies such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Customs Service, among others, Alawode accused feed millers and merchants of large scale corruption by resort to artificial scarcity by hoarding of the products.
She alleged further that the merchants are illegally exporting these products to neighbouring countries, thereby putting unnecessary pressures on the industry at home.
“In August 2020, maize and soya were sold at N170, 000 and N115, 000 per ton respectively, with the market price of commercial feeds at an average of price of N3,300 per bag of 25kg,” she said.
