PAN urges FG to invest N700bn in poultry farming

The Kano State Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (KACCIMA) has commended the Dangote Group for sponsoring the 37th International Trade Fair which opens today in Kano.

The Trade Fair has as its theme: “Attracting Entrepreneurs and Investors Towards National Economic Growth.”

Speaking, the DirectorGeneral of KACCIMA, Mr Aliyu Muhammad Mustafa, said: “The Dangote Group has been our major sponsor over the years including this year’s trade fair. Most marketers have been asking us if Dangote will participate and we told them yes. So the Dangote Group is a major driving force in Kano Trade Fair.”

He said that 17 ambassadors would participate in the opening ceremony of the fair.

Others who would witness the occasion, he said, comprised President Muhammadu Buhari, who would be represented by the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, the Emir of Kano and delegates from some African countries.

He said that more companies have shown their interest in the trade fair, this year, compared to previous years.

In a statement issued by the Dangote Group, companies under the conglomerate that would be participate in the trade fair include the Dangote Flour, Dangote Cement, Dangote Pasta, Dangote Sugar, DanQ Seasoning and Dansa products.

The statement said that customers seeking to be appointed distributors of any of the Dangote Group’s subsidiaries would be attended to by staff of the companies who would be present at the trade fair ground. The federal government has been urged to invest N700bn on poultry products to discourage importation and assist local production.

Speaking in the NatnudO foods office in Lagos, the National President of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Mr Ayoola Oduntan, said the fund would be used to subsidise farm implements, seeds, granting of soft loans at low interest and encourage local farmers to produce maize and soya for feeds.

Oduntan, who described poultry industry as a business capable of generating N1trn, insisted that the government and private investors needed to assist local farmers by subsidising prices of feeds and enforcing the ban on poultry border.

He said that the high cost of production of poultry feeds has led to the increase in prices of eggs and chicken. He said that the prices of soya and maize, the important components of feeds production, had increased with soya’s price increasing from N60,000 to one N150,000 and maize increased from products at the one N100,000 to N160,000, per metric tonne.

The PAN president said that the Nigeria poultry show, themed: “Sustaining the poultry industry in an economic recession,” would be held at the DLK events centre in Abeokuta between November 29 and 30 2016, with exhibitors expected from Nigeria and other countries.