Lagos State government has said that it would intensify efforts to save poultry farmers in the state as the egg glut threatened the sector.
The government said it has started an offtake of a minimum of 300,000 eggs from the Erikorodo Poultry Estate in Ikorodu to address the problem confronting the sector.
The State Commissioner for Agriculture, Ms Abisola Olusanya made this known in a statement after meeting with stakeholders in the industry.
Recently, due to naira scarcity, farmers found it difficult to sell eggs to Lagosians.
The Estates’ poultry farmers in a plea to the state government noted that the recent egg glut was aggravated by the cash crunch and closure of schools amongst other factors.
Olusanya in the statement said the 300,000 offtake from the Erikorodo Poultry Estate in Ikorodu by a private firm – Farm Alert Ltd after weeks of visits and negotiations was to support the poultry farmers.
She added that the support from the state government would further enhance the development of the poultry value chain in the state.
The poultry farmers operating within Erikorodo and Aiyedoto poultry estates form a large percentage of registered farmers under the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) – Lagos State Chapter and the move enhances the food security agenda of the state government.
Olusanya however assured that the State government would continue to put measures in place to create a conducive environment for farmers to operate in line with the efforts to ensure sufficiency in food production in the state.
Dominica Nwabufo
