The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) have lamented over the high cost of feed production raw materials like maize, soybean and other micro-ingredients which it said was because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
PAN also called on the Federal Government to assist the poultry farmers with credit facilities and also monitor the disbursement of the funds.
In a new year message of the Chairman of PAN Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Chapter, Pius Aminu, he advised poultry farmers to be more vigilant and security conscious around their farms.
“We are also deeply concerned with the high prices of inputs viz maize, soya, micro-ingredients and others which have affected our beloved poultry farmers and have contributed to the closure of several farms within FCT.
“This is largely attributed to COVID-19 Pandemic. All relevant stakeholders are being engaged to cushion the effects of this so we crave understanding and patience from our esteemed poultry farmers as this will soon fizzle out.
“Maize, in particular, is a gold mine for hoarders which is impacting negatively on poultry farmers.
“Government is also very much supportive to farmers in that regard but we seek for more Government interventions in the areas of monitoring, tracking and proper utilisation of funds released for cushioning programmes to avoid the collapse of the poultry business with its attendant negative impact on employment.
“As we are all aware of the security challenges facing our dear nation we once again appeal to Government to prioritise disbursement of credit facilities to the poultry sector because despite the daunting challenges the poultry farmers are still able to sustain their employment generation which if given adequate attention to genuine and active poultry farmers that will surely impact positively on the security challenges facing our nation, as there is a direct relationship between insecurity and unemployment which can affect security.
“The FCT Chapter is very ready to partner with Government in that regard. The Sustainability of our poultry business is our mission, we will continue to drive that mission through our price advisory and monitoring committee to advise our farmers on appropriate pricing of poultry products.
“We advise our farmers to be more vigilant and security conscious around their farms,” he said.
He encouraged existing poultry farmers and potential poultry farmers to ensure their registration status is verified and confirmed on their website using their membership registration number, noting that “henceforth only those farmers that are duly uploaded on our website will be given considerations, this is to enable us to know our active and non-active farmers.”
Aminu said that in 2022, FCT PAN will pay more attention in these areas, quality membership drive, training and retraining of poultry Farmers in FCT to embrace the modern and improved practices in poultry business to enhance performance.
Others are building more networks with stakeholders to ensure collaboration and supports, effective collaboration with Press/ media houses to bring our opinion and narrative down to the relevant authorities, ensuring inclusive performance of both small, medium and large scale poultry farmers in all programs of the Association.