As a result of inflation in the country, the price of eggs per crate, which currently sells between ₦5,500 and ₦6,000, may soon be ₦10,000 as a result of fuel subsidy removal and the millers’ indiscriminate increase in feed prices.
The Secretary of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, PAN, FCT Chapter, Musa Hakeem, made this known at a press briefing on Saturday in Abuja to commemorate World Egg Day.
Nigeria is currently experiencing one of its worst inflation in decades as prices of many commodities have skyrocketed.
Speaking during the press conference, Hakeem, called on the government to declare a state of emergency in the egg production sector.
He warned that without swift intervention, the price hike would be inevitable, further worsening the already declining protein consumption among Nigerians.
Hakeem attributed the looming increase to soaring transportation costs resulting from the removal of fuel subsidies, and escalating feed prices driven by feed millers.
The sharp rise in production costs could push the price of a crate to ₦10,000, but we have kept it at ₦5,500 out of consideration for consumers.”
He expressed disappointment over the lack of significant governmental support, noting that the last time poultry farmers received grain assistance was three years ago.
He lamented that the government is not paying the required attention to the poultry subsector as it has been neglected over time, saying business owners have been operating in their own volition and hoped that the industry does not crash.
The Chief Executive Officer of Pest Agro Dealers, Jude Arikogu, lamented the indiscriminate increase in prices of feed by millers and also the low measurement of the feeds saying, “a 25kg bag of feed is hardly up to 23kg when put on our scale.”
Arikogu also lamented that poultry farmers are unable to raise finance from the banks as banks are not willing to finance them.
The Ex-officer of the association at the national level, Ibrahim Lamidi, said the business environment is not favourable to them as they are only trying to ensure Nigerians have eggs on the table.
However, he also encouraged Nigeria to always eat eggs in place of meat saying eggs are more proteinous and cheaper.
