The Poultry Association of Nigeria has urged the Federal Government to intervene in the current egg glut being experienced in the market, forcing farmers to reduce prices.
The National Publicity Secretary of the association, Mr Godwin Egbebe, made the plea on Thursday in Lagos.
An egg glut is a situation where the number of eggs in the market or produced is greater than the demand causing an undesirable accumulation of table eggs in the farms or stores.
He said that some states had come to the rescue of farmers but they had yet to receive any intervention from the Federal Government.
“States like Lagos, Plateau and Ogun have done tremendously well in coming to the aid of poultry farmers in their states since the lingering egg glut witnessed in the sector.
“Ogun bought 10,000 crates, while Lagos facilitated the mop-up of 300,000 eggs and Plateau also mopped up a considerable amount.
“As an association, we appreciate them but we believe state governments can do more to aid the sector at this critical time.
“For instance, Ogun mopping up 10,000 crates of eggs is a far cry from the state’s production capacity.
“It is just like taking one-day production from a single poultry farm,” he said.
Egbebe, however, noted that in spite of the help these states had given to poultry farmers, it has little impact on the current situation.
“These few mop-ups have not impacted the glut to a large extent because the birds are still laying eggs on a daily basis.
“The only way the government can make a considerable impact is to mop up completely the eggs we have on the ground so that the remaining ones can be pushed to the market gradually.
“Some state governments have taken the initiative to help us at this stage, but the Federal Government should come in to do more.
“We are yet to get word from the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on the egg glut even though they assured us to have written to the Presidency on the issue.
“The Federal Government should be able to do something for local farmers to help the poultry industry,” Egbebe said.
The expert, however, insisted that there were many places where these mopped-up eggs could be sent to.
“We have a lot of places the government can push the eggs they mop up from the farmers to.
“They can send them to the prisons to augment the diets of prisoners and to government-owned hospitals to aid quick recovery of patients.
“The eggs can also be mopped up and given to Internally Displaced Person’s camps,” the expert said.
NAN
Photo by Jakub Kapusnak on Unsplash