OUR FIGHT AGAINST STARVATION

 

PREAMBLE

Beloved, the legacy of the Covid-19 Pandemic is the recession that we all face worldwide.

The cost of almost everything has skyrocketed. In their bid to make foodstuff, poultry, livestock and fish available on their table, many Nigerians have gone into subsistence farming. However they have come to face a lot of challenges that are making it difficult to survive in this new venture.

Many fish, poultry and livestock farmers are in financial straightjacket and are unable to feed their birds due to high cost of Poultry & Livestock feeds. In a bid to recoup some of their investments, many of them are selling off their Poultry/Livestock at ridiculously low prices.    

According to the feed millers, the high cost of feeds is due to shortage of soybean and maize which are major raw materials of livestock feed in Nigeria. The farmers claimed that the glut during the lockdown, adversely affected their finances and ability to sustain the business which led to increase in the price of soybean by as much as almost 95% and maize by almost 90%.

The price of soybean increased from N115,000 per tonne in August to N215,000 per tonne in November 2020 representing an increase of 86.95% within a four month period.  Due to this increase, the prices of eggs and chickens might go out of reach of many Nigerians.

 A chicken might be sold between N5,000 and N10,000 during the Christmas depending on the weight. At N5600/bag even if a crate of egg is sold at N1500 it amounts to a loss of N300,000/month to the producer. There is an urgent need for the Federal Government to come to the rescue of farmers and save the Poultry/Livestock industry from collapse since the business is no longer profitable due to increased prices of feeds and concentrates which has led to a very high price of chickens and eggs.

 Feed millers and merchants also have their own share of the blame, because they are alleged to have caused artificial scarcity by hoarding the produce and illegally exporting it to neighboring countries, thus putting unnecessary pressure on the industry.

 Intelligence gathering on issues around price increases in maize and soya reveal hoarding by merchants and exporting of processed soya bean meal by some millers as well as poor harvest due to low quality seeds caused by the climate change and insecurity in the grains producing zones among other factors.

 RECOMMENDATIONS 

(1)  The Federal Government of Nigeria should through the Ministry of Agriculture approve importation of Maize, soya bean and concentrate for the millers & processors of grains to cushion the feed crisis through its Development Finance department, the CBN should establish a working relationship between the maize farmers and the poultry farmers to check the profiteering tendencies of the merchant

(2) There should be an immediate ban on the export of processed soya beans and soya bean meal until local consumption is guaranteed and sustained.

(3) Efforts should also be directed at dry season irrigation farming in order to improve production capacity while at the same time focusing on the quality of the seeds to ensure high yield thus reducing high cost of production per hectare.

(4) The Federal Government of Nigeria should also address the issue of challenges of flooding and insecurity arising from banditry and kidnapping of farmers in the key grain producing belts of the country.

(5) The Federal Government should release grains through the strategic food reserve of the FGN directly to millers and processors in the industry

(6) Government at Federal, State and Local levels should embark on massive cultivation of grains and other foodstuffs in the agro-industries.

 All hands must be on deck (as the future portends a gloomy picture) in Our Fight Against Starvation.

Shalom.

God Bless Africa.

God Bless Humanity

Kindly Visit https://ayoogunjobi.blogspot.com

Very Truly Yours

Elder (Evang) Ayodeji Ogunjobi (Deja Vu)

Please Circulate Widely