By Yemi Olakitan
Poultry farmers in Lagos State, have called on the Governments at all levels to swiftly intervene to stop the impending collapse of the poultry sector in the wake of the removal of fuel subsidies, depreciation of the Naira, and the attendant negative impacts on the poultry business.
The farmers issued the request on Wednesday under the auspices of the Erikorodo Poultry Association and it’s Chairman, Mrs. Juliana Ibitoye.
They urged the government to offer farmers and agricultural workers in the Erikorodo Poultry Estate direct palliative assistance.
The Association said that the majority of its members have lost their capital in the last year and are in danger of going bankrupt completely. To stop the impending collapse of the industry, they pleaded for urgent assistance from all tiers of government.
“The purpose of this is to bring the government’s attention to the situation of poultry farmers around the nation, with a focus on Erikorodo Poultry Estate in Ikorodu, Lagos State.
“The cost of poultry feeds has soared by more than 100% in the past two months. This is due to the lack of maize, which is a key ingredient in the manufacturing of chicken diets. The withdrawal of fuel subsidies and the devaluation of the naira have both had negative effects on the sector.
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Since they can no longer feed their birds, the majority of poultry farmers have turned to selling them. Others are selling their farms since there seem to be no chance of survival. The majority of our members have lost all of their cash in the last year and are in danger of going bankrupt.
More than a thousand people are employed directly and more than 5,000 people are employed indirectly by the farms in our estate, and thousands more depend on these people for their livelihood.
According to the Association, closing these farms would result in many people losing their jobs, dimming their prospects for providing a better living for their families, and negatively impact the government’s efforts to ensure food security.
The Erikorodo Poultry Estate Association urged the government to provide grants and low-interest loans to farmers in order to help them revive their businesses as they spoke about the urgent measures that needed to be taken by the government to address the plight of the poultry farmers in order to stop the industry’s impending collapse.
The Association also endorsed the creation of commodities boards to assist in regulating the cost of chicken products.
They demanded the rapid release of maize from the government grains reserve as well as the lifting of importation limits so that more players may import maize instead of the current system, which is essentially monopolistic.
The Erikorodo Poultry Estate Association thanked the Lagos State Government for its assistance over the years and pleaded with it not to let all the excellent work it has done thus far be wasted as a result of the current realities.
