Investment in egg, poultry sector will boost economy, household nutrition ― Agro economist

Nchetachi Chukwuajah

An agricultural economist and Managing Director, Kingsfarm Limited, Stephen Habib, has said that investment in poultry farming and eggs, especially, will stimulate Nigeria’s economy and boost household nutrition and consumption of other staple foods.

He said this has become necessary in the face of the high food inflation rate and the recent cash crunch caused by the naira redesign policy of the Federal Government, leaving households vulnerable to malnutrition.

“An understanding of the role the poultry sector plays in the Nigerian economy and the roles eggs play in household consumption is therefore imperative given the current situation of egg glut principally caused by the naira redesign policy.

“Moreover, with the high rate of poverty and malnutrition in the country, with households not being able to feed as they should, eggs play vital roles in stimulating consumption and it also helps in meeting up with the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of many vital nutrients which make it a very crucial food needed for a healthy living,” he said.

He added that “Eggs exist in joint and complementary demand with many staple foods in Nigeria like yam, bread, noodles, plantain, and many others. A crucial measure that could help stimulate household consumption across the board is eggs, considering the multiplier effects they could have on the agricultural GDP when jointly and complementarily demanded with other staple foods.

“A proactive government with an understanding of this situation may employ crucial measures to support the farmers by providing a mop-up cushion to reduce the losses of not just egg producers, but crop farmers.”

Bemoaning the impact of the cash crisis on poultry farmers, Habib said the situation led to an egg glut and left poultry farmers with a stockpile of eggs, forcing them to sell off eggs at lower-than-cost prices.

“This is the case with Nigeria’s poultry sector, particularly eggs which is a product that is always at the receiving end due to its highly perishable nature. In the tropics, it usually takes a month for its quality to deteriorate, thus should not exceed a week each with the producers, wholesalers, retailers, and final consumers.

“A compounding factor for egg glut is the fact that egg production cannot be stopped when birds are already in lay unless perhaps slowed down through feed rationing which is usually sub-optimal.

“With the high cost of poultry feed and other inputs, poultry farmers are currently at risk of catastrophic losses if the sale is disrupted along the distribution channel. This is because sales at the retail level, which constitutes the bulk of consumption, have been slowed down significantly. Consumers at this end have been constrained and small retailers have been unable to recoup their money due to the cash crunch. This has resulted in stockpiles of eggs across many farms in the country, also made worse by the fact that tertiary institutions are on holiday amidst the electioneering period,” he said.

The agric economist, however, commended the egg mop-up initiative of the Ogun State government which averted the egg glut for poultry farmers in the state.

He said the Ogun State government began mopping-up eggs from farmers and distributing them directly to final consumers across the state to stimulate household consumption of other staple foods.

“Ogun State government, led by governor Dapo Abiodun, understands this critical situation and has demonstrated exemplary leadership by helping to avert the catastrophic losses that could be experienced in the poultry sector, by assisting to mop up these accrued perishable eggs before they go bad and distributing them directly to final consumers across the state to stimulate household consumption of other staple foods.

“The timing and scale of this mop-up exercise determine the extent to which further catastrophic losses could be averted, and the complementary consumption it could stimulate,” he said.

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