Poultry Farmers Cry Out Over Economic Hardship

<h4>Poultry Farmers Cry Out Over Economic Hardship<&sol;h4>&NewLine;<p><strong><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;openlife&period;ng&sol;">OpenLife Nigeria<&sol;a><&sol;strong> reports that following fuel subsidy removal&comma; devaluation of the Naira and the attendant negative impact on poultry business&comma; poultry farmers across the country&comma; particularly in Lagos State&comma; have called on Government at all levels to urgently intervene to prevent the imminent collapse of the poultry industry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The farmers&comma; under the aegis of the Erikorodo Poultry Association made the appeal on Wednesday in a statement signed by its Chairman&comma; Mrs&period; Juliana Ibitoye&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They appealed to the government to provide palliative support directly to farmers and farm hands within the Erikorodo Poultry Estate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking on their plight&comma; the Association disclosed that most of their members have lost their capital within the past one year and are on the verge of imminent total collapse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They therefore appealed for urgent support from government at all levels to prevent the imminent collapse of the industry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This is to draw the attention of the government to the plight of poultry farmers all over the country and in particular Erikorodo Poultry Estate&comma; Ikorodu&comma; Lagos State&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Over the last couple of months the prices of poultry feeds have increased by over 100 percent&period; This is as a result of the scarcity of maize&comma; which is a major component of poultry feeds production&period; The devaluation of the naira and the fuel subsidy removal have also impacted the industry adversely&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Most poultry farmers have resorted to selling off their birds since they are no longer able to feed them&period; Some others are selling their farms as there seems to be no hope in sight&period; Most of our members have lost their capital within the past one year and are on the verge of bankruptcy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Farms within our estate employ over a thousand staff directly and more than five thousand indirectly with several thousands also depending on these people for livelihood&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;vanguardngr&period;com&sol;">Closure of these farms will throw many people out of employment&comma; dim the hope of a better life for their families and adversely affect the food security drive of the government&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the Association stated&period;<&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking on urgent measures to put in place by government to address the plight of the poultry farmers in order to prevent the imminent collapse of the industry&comma; the Erikorodo Poultry Estate Association&comma; appealed to the government to provide grants and soft loans to farmers to enable them resuscitate their businesses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Association also expressed its support for the establishment of commodity boards to help regulate the price of poultry products&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>They also called for immediate release of maize from the federal grains reserve&comma; as well as removing restrictions on the importation of maize to enable more players to import maize instead of the near monopoly system that operates at the moment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Erikorodo Poultry Estate Association expressed their appreciation to the Lagos State Government for its support over the years&comma; pleading that the government should not allow all the good work it has done so far to go to waste due to the current issues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;