The President of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, PAN, Dr. Ayoola Oduntan, has declared that the farmers in the country, especially the poultry farmers, have been producing below their capacity due to lack of funds and other modern farming equipment. Speaking at the Poultry Summit 2016 organised by Poultry Association of Nigeria, PAN, with the theme: “The Role of Poultry Industry in Economic Revival of Nigeria,” held in Lagos, Oduntan said the farmers were faced with many challenges inhibiting their potentials to produce more foods and other agricultural raw materials for the economic development of the country, adding that over 60 per cent of the farms had closed down due to the challenges He hinted that the Association had been working with Federal Government to ensure that there is a turnaround in the poultry production and make the products supplus for the local consumption as well as for export.
The PAN boss also noted that illegal importation and smuggling of poultry products into the country constituted major setback for the agricultural development of the country, identifying such act as a hindrance to the economic diversification agenda of the government through agriculture. He said: “And eventually, to think about future, we need to produce a lot chicken so that we can satisfy the need of our neighbouring countries but all of us must work together and corporate to make this a reality. On smuggling, we have the full support of ministry of agriculture. We came up with suggestions that will help to reduce the rampant of unholy poultry products smuggling into this country. “As poultry farmers, we contribute 25 per cent of agric GDP for this country while poultry remains probably the single largest sub-sector in agriculture. Poultry alone consumes about 25 per cent of the maize produced in this country; consume a lot of the polish from the rice, soybeans as by product, large stone from the quarry, cassava and others. We play a very significant role in the Nigerian economy.” Oduntan urged the Federal Government to pay the compensation promised the farmers who were affected with bird flu, pointing out that many of those affected farmer by the disease were yet to recover from the loss they incurred.
He said the timely intervention of the government would go a long way in reviving the poultry sector and also fast track the role of poultry industry in economic revival of the country. Meanwhile, the Federal Government has concluded plans to inject additional N750 billion into agricultural farming where farmers can easily access fund at affordable interest rate as part of efforts to diversify economy. The Minister of State for Agriculture, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, who disclosed this, said that Federal Government was totally in support of poultry farmers by trying to make credit more accessible and affordable. He noticed that there were some funding windows in CBN through which the poultry farmers could access loans with affordable interest rate of 9 per cent. He said although the 9 per cent interest rate was still high for the farmers, promising that the government would work it out soon. He therefore said that Federal Government was ready to give the poultry sub-sector all the institutional support it needed, noting that Nigeria is highest egg producer in Africa, adding that the country will be more vulnerable in the next few years, if it refuses to invest in agriculture and develop the sector. “Nigeria is not one of the biggest farm countries in the world and that is why we are eventually importing everything, from chicken, toothpick and the like. Countries that invest so much in agriculture make more money than oil. The money Nigeria is making from oil does not show in our development and that is why we should develop our agricultural sector. We abandoned agriculture, which is the foundation of our country during the independent.” Lokpobiri reiterated that President Muhammadu Buhari is demonstrating commitment to restructure the economy toward agriculture in the country.