PAN Urges Government To Support Poultry Farmers With Grants

Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), FCT Chapter, has appealed to the government of Nigeria to assist poultry farmers with grants to stabilise their farms.

The Chairman, Mr Pius Aminu said this in Abuja
while speaking with the media, that such grants should be given to farmers directly, rather than through intermediaries.

Aminu, who described the sector as the highest employer of labour irrespective of one’s qualification, said that the sector had overtime, not received the needed attention and support from all tiers of government.

Cushion The Effect Of Fuel Hike

The chairman commended the Federal Government, through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and CBN, for releasing maize to farmers to cushion the effect of price hike.

He said that the measure, to a certain extent, had cushioned the effect of some of the challenges currently affecting the industry.

Aminu, who described the quantity as grossly inadequate, said that other micro ingredients used for poultry feed production were not readily available in the country.

He identified non availability of the ingredients in the country as a contributing factor to the hike in feeds and poultry products in the country.
According to him, a lot of farms have closed down at the moment, and by extension it meant a lot of people have been sent back to seek employment.

“A farm of 10,000 birds, the minimum number of workers you have is 10; so if that farm closes down, that means 10 people have been sent to labour market not to talk of farms with thousands of birds and above.
“Poultry sector is the only sector that does not require any qualification, skills, all you need is to show interest, passion and you are employed, trained in few months and the next thing you have source of livelihood,”

“What we consider basically in poultry is experience, not certificate or qualification. So, everybody is qualified to work in poultry sector,” he said.

The chairman urged the government to give priority to the sector through funding, to reduce unemployment rate, poverty rate and ensure food security of the country.

NAN/Lateefah Ibrahim