Naira Scarcity: Poultry farmers lose N300million lament poor sales

The Poultry Farmers Association of Nigeria (PAN) said the industry has lost more than N30bn worth of eggs since the implementation of the naira redesign policy by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)

According to them, eggs being daily produced by poultry farmers since the first week of February, 2023 till date, have never been offtaken by 20 percent because of the near absence and lack of the naira notes to buy basic food items, and other necessary proteins such as eggs and chickens.

A statement signed by the National President and the Director General of the association, Sunday Ezeobiora and Onallo Akapa respectively, said poultry farmers in the country had lost over 15 million crates of eggs being unsold and are damaged. 

They raised concern that the poultry industry was on the verge of total collapse because of the negative and devastating consequences of the currency swap on the industry, as the near absence of Naira notes for Nigerians to make daily transactions have made businesses in the poultry industry more difficult. 

It said except the Federal Government intervenes, the poultry industry might collapse, as “many poultry farmers are now debtors to commercial banks and suppliers of raw materials and other services.” 

They urged the Federal Government to mop up the eggs through the association for distribution to the most vulnerable populations, as part of the social investment support to Nigerians. 

PAN urged Armed Forces in various peace keeping operations the Nigerian Prisons, the Internally Displaced Persons and places, Primary Schools (School Feeding Programme) to be immediate offtakers of the eggs. 

They also appealed to to the Presidency to direct the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), the Directorate of Peace 
Keeping Operations of the Nigeria Armed Forces and the Social Investment Programme of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management to work with the Association on how immediate reliefs can be extended to poultry farmers.

They called on the government to make available direct grants and financial support to the industry through the association in special packages to be worked out by the government and the association, saying the above support and succour to the industry would alleviate the current losses to the industry. 

Meanwhile, poultry industry is one of the most consolidated subsectors in the county. It contributes about 25 percent of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product (AGDP) of the economy and is employing over 25 million Nigerians direct and indirect.

“Over the years, the poultry industry has been a major employer of labour, and a great source of financial empowerment and livelihood for many families, especially the women and youths. The industry is completely private- 
sector driven worth over N3t.