The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has called for urgent intervention of President Bola Tinubu on the hike in the cost of poultry feeds in the country.

The poultry farmers said the failure of the government to take urgent action to mitigate this challenge would lead to a total collapse of the poultry sub-sector of the economy.

The Secretary of PAN, FCT chapter, Hakeem Musa, made the call in Abuja on Friday, January 19, 2024.

Musa, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Mushak Agro Consult, frowned at the perpetual hike in price of poultry feeds, adding that the government could intervene by giving grants to farmers in order to remain in business.

Citing example with layers mash, Musa said a 25kg bag of feed as of November 2023 was N8,000 plus; first week of December rose to N9,100; second week N9,350; and third week N9,550.

He, however, said at the moment the same bag of feeds has risen to N10,950.

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Musa said: “Nobody knows whether this increment is going to stop anytime soon because November, December is supposed to be time for surplus of maize and if it is this expensive, what are we expecting from February and March?

“We are praying that President Tinubu’s administration will focus attention on the industry and also confident and hopeful that intervention will be given to poultry sub-sector of the country.

“The basic intervention we need is grant not loans to sustain the industry because over time farmers have lost a lot of money, so if they are taking loan now they will not be able to pay back.”

The PAN Secretary attributed the high cost of feeds to inadequate maize and soybeans being major ingredients for feed production as well as ban on maize importation.

He stated that the hike in feeds has negatively impacted on the poultry farmers, saying a lot of farms have been shut down while some other farmers have also reduced the capacity of their birds drastically.

The Star