The Poultry Association of Nigeria, Lagos State chapter, is seeking a licence for maize importation to ease cost of production.

The Chairman of the state Poultry Association of Nigeria, Mojeed Iyiola, said this during an interview on Tuesday in Lagos.

Mr Iyiola said the cost of production increased since the beginning of the year, hence the call by the association for a maize import licence.

Mr Iyiola said, “The licence for the importation of maize is being given to few hands, and they are importing for their selfish gains. If they even decide to sell to poultry farmers and feed processors, they still sell at the same rate the open markets are selling to us even the import waivers for maize is favouring poultry farmers. That is why we are appealing to the government to give us, as an association, the right to import our maize ourselves. When we import our maize directly, we can now sell to our members at affordable rates which will in turn reduce our cost of production. Buying from middlemen cost us a lot. For the import waiver policy to be effective and beneficial to the poultry sector, we should be given the licence to import ourselves.’’

The PAN chairman also noted that the cost of poultry produce such as eggs cannot drop presently due to the rising cost of poultry feed.

He said, “The prices of eggs cannot come down now because virtually every three days the feed producers are adding a minimum of N800 to the cost of feed. The grower feed that was being sold at the rate of N3500 for a 25kg bag as at the beginning of this year, is being sold at almost N13,000 per bag. And there is no way a layer can lay twice a day no matter what you feed it.’’

According to Mr Iyiola, the egg laying process is a cycle and it must be completed before the birds can lay again.

He expressed concerns with the growing production costs, adding that gradually eggs were no longer a diet for the poor.

“This quite unfortunate because an egg has all the nutritional requirements needed by the human body,” the chairman said.

(NAN)