It is no longer news that the Nigeria poultry industry is in the midst of a crisis which has forced a crippling glut- that has knocked not a few farmers sideways. To all intents and purposes, it has been gored and bloodied by the sharp spear of the botched currency redesign policy that precipitated a cash crunch.
Recently, I couldn’t restrain my emotion when the scale of the situation hit me; the mélange of empathy and sympathy took hold me entirely. Frankly, the grave development in the poultry industry is as personal to me as it is to any investor or player in the industry. The losses are just too colossal and the weight of the pain thereof too heavy to keep one calm. How can anyone stand the sight of putrefying eggs valued at millions being buried!
It’s already clear that it would never be the same for many given the scale of the losses. People are routinely counting their losses and of course losing valuable sleep. The crisis is coming on the back of other debilitating crisis like the bird flu, insecurity and the resultant high cost of key input in feed production and the big one – the COVID- 19 pandemic which saw to the imposition of lockdown which according to pundits resulted to about 1.5 trillion naira in losses. Sadly, another pandemic is on the prowl as new strain of bird flu is spreading apace.
However, the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has already put a figure on the current losses to about 30 billion naira. Not a few, players are swathed by a huge blanket of loans needed to stay afloat before the rattling punch of the current crisis. Before now, a lot of the poultry farmers have been braving singularly difficult operating environment.
Let me provide a brief context on the industry- it is a giant in the agricultural sector which contributes about 25% to the sector. Its value in put at 4.2 billion US dollars. According to the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Nigeria leads in the annual egg production in Africa while it occupies the second largest position in poultry population with 180 million of birds. About 85 million Nigerians are engaged in the subsector preponderantly in small to medium scale. In addition, it provides about 300Mt of meat and 650Mt of eggs annually. It means whatever happens to the subsector easily has a ripple effect on the agricultural sector and the economy as a whole.
Again, the industry is commercialized and vibrant. It is private sector led. It is consequential to the country as the population is projected to be about 400 million in 2050 and a substantial chunk would be city dwellers which comes with concomitant increase in the demand for poultry products which ordinarily should elicit support to the subsector. It is a veritable vehicle for attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The industry requires all the sympathy and support that can be mustered. It shouldn’t just be allowed to walk the cold and lonely path of adversity given the centrality of the industry to the socioeconomic wellbeing of the country. It goes without saying, that the poultry industry is susceptible to crisis of different nature on the strength of the short shelf life of its important product and the lethal effect on the input supply chain.
The government seems to be in a mute mode over the matter. Its swift intervention is imperative at this critical point to preclude the following among other things: the rolling back of the recorded gains and technical expertise that has put the country in the league of the top players in the industry in the continent, divestment from the industry as result of flagging investors’ confidence and the placing of poultry protein out of the easy reach of a large segment of the population.
It is, however, time to begin to explore the oft-mentioned value addition in the industry. It will be revolutionary to say the least. The conversion of the raw eggs to powder form is feasible in the country. Our food and beverages company include powered eggs in bread, biscuit, noodles, ice-cream and a host of other products. Undoubtedly, the attempt will save the country the humongous loss of scarce foreign exchange and for good measure inject more jobs and serve as a safeguard against the occasional glut. Also, the school feeding programme will have to be seen as means of absorbing the huge amount of eggs produced by the industry.
Government at all levels would have to retool and bolster the scheme in making it work not only effectively but sustainably. The private sector has a role to play in supporting scheme through the agency of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which will serve as a boon to the poultry industry.
Ungbo writes from Abuja via
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