The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) Lagos State chapter, has blamed the continuous hike in Poultry Produce on profit-driven middlemen in the sector.
The association’s chairman, Mr Godwin Egbebe, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Lagos.
Egbebe noted that the continuous hike in poultry produce is not from the local farmers but as a result of the profit needs of the middlemen and wholesalers in the Sector.
According to him the association is set to start up local poultry farmers markets and depots to regulate poultry produce prices.
“The changing prices in the cost of poultry produce is not from the farmers’ end. The middlemen actually hike the prices of poultry produce in the local markets.
“For example an egg costs less than N50 in our farms but these middlemen and retailers can sell as high as N80 or N100 for an egg.
“What we as an association want to do to address this unnecessary hike in the prices of poultry produce is to set up local markets where people can patronise the farmers directly.
“Once the middlemen know that poultry prices are regulated by the association, they will have no choice but to stick to the original price because they do not bear the cost of production with us.
“This unnecessary hike in the prices of poultry produce is not from us the producers,” Egbebe told NAN.
According to him Poultry produce will be sold at regulated prices once the farmers markets are set up.
“Most of our farms are at the outskirts of the town and that is why most middlemen take advantage to increase poultry prices needlessly.
“So, setting up our own market is a work in progress, we will situate major egg depot’s in popular areas of the state to ameliorate this incessant price hike.
“We will sell our produce at regulated price not subject to constant changes on the wimps of the middlemen’s crave for extra profit.
“Setting up the poultry farmers markets will cost us a lot but plans are being put in place to make it realisable,” he said.
Egbebe also lauded the Federal Government’s intervention on poultry feed , which he said eased the stress of procuring bird feed.
“The grains we got as poultry feed intervention from the Federal Government helped to stabilise the price of maize in the local markets.
“Before now, prices of maize and soya were going up on a daily basis, the Central Bank intervention stabilised the price of maize .
“However, the price of soya kept increasing, this is an indication that the intervention worked. If they can also do it for Soya, it will really go a long way in boosting productivity in the poultry sector,” the chairman said.