THE GUARDIAN
Stakeholders in the poultry business are worried that unless urgent interventions are urgently implemented, the sector is headed to a complete collapse in a matter of months.
The multiple crises have caused a sharp rise in price in the past months with retail cost now averaging N3,600 per crate, depending on location and size, and N150 for a single egg.
The challenge could trigger a worse-case malnutrition crisis in the country. Already, the 2022 Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Demographic Statistics Bulletin, said nine out of every 10 Nigerian children do not eat eggs. The same report said the same proportion of children do not consume any form of dairy product (fish, meat, egg, chicken, cheese or milk) at all and lack basic foods required to provide adequate food nutrients.
Expectedly, it added that because of the deficiency, malnutrition among under-five children in the country is worrisome with a per cent facing severe acute malnutrition (SAM) while four per cent faced with moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) just as and 15 per cent of them had a high risk of acute malnutrition (RAM).
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) recommends a minimum per capita daily protein intake of 53.8 grammes. While the daily intake is 64g globally, it is 40.4g in Nigeria. Inadequate protein intake among children has been linked to slow growth in children, stunting, malnutrition, wasting and underweight.
These statistics could worsen as many poultry farmers have since abandoned the businesses, saying they can no longer cope with operational expenses. Many of them said they cannot continue to run at losses while servicing their loans.
National President of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) and Chairman of Sunchi Integrated Farms Limited, Sunday Ezeobiora, lamented that their pleas to the government and relevant agencies have fallen on deaf ears. He said they expected the government to come to their rescue since last year when the situation became very dire and the cost of eggs started skyrocketing due to the harsh operating environment.
Revealing that the problem started in 2020 during the lockdown when they did not sell anything and lost millions of naira, he said last year’s naira redesign crisis put the final nail in the coffin, sending the industry to its knees.
“Poultry farmers’ losses average 60 million eggs daily and we could not sell anything during that period. Many farmers buried their eggs and chickens. As many as 300, 000 birds were buried. How does one come back from such a huge loss?” he asked.
The Guardian’s findings reveal that the cost of maize and soybean meal – the two important components of feed (75 per cent) – has skyrocketed to a believable height in the last month. In 2022, one metric tonne of maize and soya beans sold for N170,000 each. Last December, it sold for about N330, 000 while a metric tonne of maize has almost doubled to N600,000 as at press time, a situation that is complicated by scarcity.
