The Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari has expressed readiness to tackle the challenges faced by poultry farmers so as to boost food and nutrition security in the country.
The minister made this known during a courtesy visit to his office by the leadership of Poultry Association of Nigeria, recently in Abuja.
He pointed out that the current state of food security was threatened by issues of availability and affordability, stressing that; ‘malnutrition and rates of food inflation required that we work all year round to ensure increased food production while putting in place, measures to make food available, accessible, and affordable for the populace.’
The minister noted that his ministry was highly concerned especially seeing poultry businesses closing down.
He however stated that it was part of the reason why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, declared emergency on food security and assured that the issues raised by the association would be looked into, pointing out that steps had been taken by the Central Bank of Nigeria to lift restrictions on importation, among other issues.
Earlier, the Pational President of association, Chief Sunday Ezeobiora stated that there were heightened tensions, apprehensions and fears over the entire poultry landscape in the country at the moment, which he said was in relation to the seeming refusal of the restrictions placed on the importation of poultry and poultry products like eggs, dairy products among others.
He pointed out that the association clamoured for more political will from government to initiate a sustainable poultry development policy with a clear cut Action Plan, noting that the recent development (according to the pronouncement from Central Bank of Nigeria) would make Nigeria revert to the pre 2000 era where Nigeria was completely a dumping ground for all sorts of imported poultry products.
He highlighted the implications and requested for specific quick win incentives to allow for the importation of 3million metric tons of maize and 500, 000 tons of soyabean to augment the supply and demand situation for the 2023/2024 poultry farming seasons among other things.
In her remarks, the Director Animal Husbandry Services, Mrs. Winnie Lai Solarin revealed that poultry business was one of the most commercialized industry in the livestock sector and according to World Bank, it has 95 per cent chance of reducing poverty and that has boosted National Gross Domestic Product of the country.
The Director, however stated that the poultry business was currently threatened just like any other business particularly in the face of insecurity and rising cost of feed in the country, adding that feed constitute about 70 per cent of the production cost and had led to closure of businesses.