Chairman of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Kaduna State branch, Alhaji Musa Bala, said on Friday that inflation and security challenges had forced about 60 per cent of poultry farms in the state to shut down.
Speaking to newsmen at the occasion of this year’s celebration of World Eggs Day (WED), Bala lamented that most poultry farms located in the outskirts, had stopped production due to security challenges.
According to him, owners of such farms and workers cannot afford the risk of operating in the outskirts for security reasons, as such, had to close shop.
The Chairman said that apart from the security challenge, cost of poultry inputs had risen tremendously, citing an instance with the 25kg bag of poultry feeds, which used to sell for N2,100, but now costs about N5,000.
He said that the developments had made it difficult for most poultry farmers to break even, thus necessitating the laying-off of workers, and eventually closing of some farms.
Bala lamented that the effect of this development was devastating to the society as poultry workers had to be laid off, thereby further worsening the deplorable socio-economic situation on ground.
He also said that the situation had resulted in scarcity of eggs, especially with government depending on poultry farmers for egg supplies to schools for feeding of pupils under the School Feeding Programme of the Federal Government.
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He, therefore, appealed to government to come to their aid by addressing those challenges to enable poultry farmers contribute to the pursuit for food security in the state, and the country at large.
The Kaduna branch of the association celebrated the 2021 World Eggs Day with fanfare, distributing boiled eggs to people along major highways.
The association also fed other residents with two pieces of boiled eggs, rice and yam, at its State Secretariat along Yakubu Gowan Way in Kaduna.
Officials of the association also visited some hospitals within the metropolis and distributed boiled eggs to patients.
Chairman of the association, Bala, told the News Agency of Nigeria ((NAN) that at least 330 crates of eggs were exhausted in celebrating the Day.
NAN reports that every second Friday of October is being celebrated worldwide as “World Eggs Day”, aimed at spreading awareness on the benefits of eating eggs daily.
The theme of this year’s celebration is “Eat Your Egg Today and Every Day”, to create awareness on the importance of eggs in daily nutrition, and encouraging people to include eggs in their daily diet.
