Chairman of Livestock Feeds Plc, Joe Dada, has urged the Muhammadu Buhari regime to tackle insecurity in the country to bring down the cost of animal feeds.

Mr Dada disclosed this in an interview on Monday in Lagos, attributing the continuous high cost of feeds in the country to internal and external factors.

“In animal husbandry, feed technically cost 70 per cent of cost of production, so if you can manage that 70 per cent, you can manage efficiency, output and growth.

“Unfortunately, the input cost has gone over the roof. We have two factors responsible for the high cost of feeds, we have the internal and external factors.

“The internal factor is driven by insecurity in most parts of the country. People can’t farm maize, soya beans, millet and sorghum. All of the additives are affected, you can’t get them due to insecurity.

“The answer to bring down the cost of feed is managing insecurity. For the external factor, what we have is an escalation of what was caused by COVID-19.

“COVID-19 brought about a ceasure in the supply chains all over the world and just as the whole world is trying to recover from it, we now have the Ukraine-Russia war.

“The ongoing Ukraine and Russia war will further compound the problem and it is not good for the feed industry,” he said.

He said the internal factor was driven largely by insecurity in most parts of the country, while the escalation of COVID-19 accounted for the external factor.

Mr Dada said all the additive used in animal feeds were affected by insecurity, noting that people could not farm maize, soya beans, millet and sorghum, which are the major component of animal feeds.

(NAN)