Stakeholders lament daunting challenges in poultry sector ...advocate establishment of poultry produce board

Ma j o r stakeholders in the poultry industry have besieged Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, to participate in this year’s Nigeria Poultry Show, tagged “Abeokuta 2017”, which kicked off in the ancient city yesterday.

The annual event usually affords poultry farmers, policy and input makers, as well as other interests in the poultry sector the opportunity to assess the sector wholistically, identify the challenges facing it and as well, suggest the way forward.

Poultry feed producers both at home and abroad, farmers, makers of poultry equipment, as well as government representatives are taking part in the show which is scheduled to be rounded off on Thursday.

Some of the participants, mostly farmers, who spoke with Daily Trust, lamented the high cost of poultry feeds and other inputs, as well as inadequate vaccines, which they said was killing the industry.

Mr. Damian Henry, owner of Rain Farms in Ikorudu, Lagos State, said the issue of inputs in the poultry sector was becoming frustrating for the farmers, saying that virtually all the inputs were being imported.

“Most of the farms folded up during the heat period of the Forex crisis as the prices of inputs went up. Most poultry farmers could not even recover production costs not to talk of making profit then, and this is what we are still facing,” he said.

He advocated for the establishment of a poultry produce board that would be buying poultry produce from local farmers during glut and sell same during scarcity as it was done for other farm produce in the olden days.

Another farmer, Mrs. Kenmat Abiola of Zarmik Farms in Abeokuta, also mentioned high cost of feeds as a major challenge facing the industry, adding that even though they produced their feeds locally; sourcing for the raw materials was an issue.

“Most of these raw materials are being imported and because of the Forex scarcity, their prices are high. The fact is that we are only managing to remain in the business; it is basically not easy,” she said.

Another participant identified workers’ sincerity as one of the challenges facing the industry, saying because some owners hardly visited their farms; unscrupulous workers usually stole poultry produce like eggs to the detriment of the owners.

The theme of this year’s show is “Efficiency in Production as a Tool to Survive a Recession in the Poultry Industry.’