Economy
MR Monday Idehai, a poultry farmer, has urged the federal and state governments to give incentives to poultry farmers for them to remain in business.
Idehai made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Benin on Tuesday.
He said it was regrettable that many poultry businesses in the country were folding up due to the high cost of production.
Idehai called for the intervention of the government in the regulation of the cost of feeds in the country to encourage poultry farmers.
Idehai also appealed to the government to give financial assistance in the form of grants to poultry farmers.
“Government should also give incentives to farmers to increase corn and soya beans production in the country.
“A bag of poultry feed is presently sold for about N8,000 as against N3,000 it was sold a few years ago while a day old chick is about N500, something we were buying for N150 a few years ago.
“The high cost of feed, birds, cages, and power supply has led to the high cost of production and poultry businesses are shutting down.
“Poultry business used to be very lucrative but we are now finding it difficult to maximize profit from the business these days,’’ Idehai said.
He also advised poultry farmers to employ good production and marketing managers to help them reduce the cost of production.
“A good production manager must help the farmer to raise the birds to appreciable market standards with less mortality.
“He should be able to reduce mortality to the barest minimum because a farmer with high bird mortality and high cost of production will not make a profit.
“When you buy 5,000 birds and about 2,000 dies, you are bound to make a loss. The highest mortality from 5,000 birds should be 100 or 200 birds.
“Also, the marketing manager must be able to get ready buyers for the chicken products when necessary to maximize profit,’’ he said. (NAN)
– June 08, 2021 @ 14:19 GMT
Tags: Government urged to provide incentives for poultry farmers
