An appeal has gone to the Federal Government to urgently intervene on the dwindling fortunes and danger confronting the Agric sector especially the poultry industry and avert its imminent collapse.
This and many more were the demands made by a cross section of poultry farmers under the aegis of the Poultry Association Nigeria at a media briefing held in Ibadan, the Oyo state capital.
According to reports, the Agric sector has been contributing an average of 24 percent to the National GDP since 2018, providing job opportunities for Nigerians across its value chain.
In 2019, the Central Bank of Nigeria categorized the poultry sub-sector as the most commercialized of Agric sub-sector with a net worth of 1.6 trillion which was about 25% of the sectors contribution to the GDP.
However, it appears that the sector can no longer sustain this momentum, as stakeholders in the poultry industry have expressed their concern about the current challenges that are pushing the industry towards imminent collapse.
They identified unavailability of maize as a major threat to the survival of their birds.
They are also urging the government to declare a state of emergency on maize by permitting its importation, as well as addressing other pertinent issues such as access to loans, among other challenges bedeviling the industry.
Stakeholders expressed a strong belief that addressing these bottlenecks will lead to a reduction in the existing high prices of the commodity, thereby providing immediate relief to the struggling sector.
