Poultry Association laments as maize hits N1m per tonne

The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) says it cannot guarantee the availability of poultry produce during the yuletide as maize hits one million naira per tonne.

The  Chairman of PAN, Lagos State chapter, Mr Mojeed Iyiola, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.

Iyiola said the cost of the produce keeps increasing due to the rising cost of raw materials for poultry feed.

This, he said, may lead to the unavailability of poultry produce during the Christmas season.

“With the current situation on the ground, we cannot guarantee the availability of enough poultry produce for the yuletide sales.

“The few birds that will be available for sale at Christmas will be very expensive for the average Nigerian to afford.

“A broiler bird of 5 kg and above may be sold at nothing less than N25,000 during the yuletide sales as against N15,000 that was sold last Christmas.

“The cost of raw materials for poultry feed was averagely fair as of last year and even up till March but since then, the price has been skyrocketing,” he said.

Iyiola also lamented the rising cost of most raw materials for poultry feed formulation, with some reference to maize and soya.

“As of March, we still bought a tonne of maize at N350,000, but now, it is sold one  million naira per tonne.

“The same thing goes to soya, the price of soya per tonne now is above one million naira.

“As of Nov. 20, it sold at N1.1 million per tonne.

“So, we have to increase own prices with these hikes in the cost of raw materials, because if we do not, we will be unable to get another set or another batch.

“So, as long as the price of these raw materials keep increasing, there is nothing we can do about the prices of poultry produce from increasing.

“The price of poultry produce especially eggs keep soaring, an analyst predicted that by December ending, a crate of egg may be sold at N10,000.

“We are moving towards the prediction if caution is not taken to address the issue,” Iyiola said.

He, however, said that there are ongoing deliberation between the government and stakeholders in the sector to address the price issue.

He also called for enactment of the right agriculture policies to tackle the situation.

“We were at a poultry stakeholders meeting at Providence Hotel to look into what could be done both by the government, poultry practitioners and most probably the feed practitioners because that is the bottom line of addressing the problem.

“We call for appropriate government policies to help address the price crisis in the poultry sector,” he said.