Kwara government crashes maize price for poultry, fish farmers
Kwara state government has begun distribution of maize at 44.5% of market value to different stakeholders in the poultry and fishery (feed mill) sectors.
The government sells a bag of 50kg maize at N8,000 instead of the N18,000 market price for the same quantity to bring relief to the farmers.
The maize is being given to the poultry farmers through the Kwara state Palliative Committee headed by former Commissioner of Police, Ebunoluwa Rotimi Adelesi.
A statement made available to journalists in Ilorin Wednesday by Dr. Saudat Abdulbaqi and Hajia Binta Mora on behalf of the palliatives committee stated the discount “is aimed at reducing the challenges faced by the farmers in producing feeds for their livestock.”
Poultry farms shutting down
Already, poultry farms across Nigeria are currently shutting down operations due to the persistent hike in the price of maize – a major feed for birds in the subsector, according to the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN).
Based on this, PAN stated that the poultry subsector in Nigeria was heading for a crash if the government failed to salvage the industry.
In a statement, the association said, “At the moment, the poultry industry in Nigeria is on the verge of total collapse if urgent intervention is not channelled to it without further delay.
“We are aware that the government has declared a state of emergency on the food security situation of the country, but the situation of the poultry industry calls for an urgent intervention to save the industry from total collapse.”
The statement, which was jointly signed by PAN’s National President, Sunday Ezeobiora, and Director-General, Onallo Akpa, stated that there had been an upward surge in the cost of maize, forcing farmers to shut down their operations.
It said, “The high surge in the price of maize and the near absence or scarcity of the product is causing farmers to close down their poultry farms at the moment because it is no longer sustainable to feed the birds and be in business.
“This is threatening the further development of the Nigerian poultry industry.”
Findings also revealed that the price of eggs, a daily protein source for many Nigerians, had soared by over 118.34 per cent after maize importation fell by 97.91 per cent.
According to data obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics, the price of one agric egg medium size rose to N89.17 as of May 2023 from N40.84 as of May 2020. This was as the importation of maize, a major component of poultry feeds, fell to $1.82m as of the end of 2022 from $87.08m as of the end of 2020 according to data from the International Trade Center.
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