The Poultry Association of Nigeria, yesterday called on the federal government to set aside a special fund as compensation for its members whose businesses were ravaged by the natural disasters of flooding, as well as the Avian influenza popularly referred to as “bird flu”.
The South West chairman of the association, Gideon Oluleye made the demand while delivering his address at the year 2022 edition of the Nigerian Poultry Show (NPS 2022) held yesterday in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital.
The event is an annual poultry show where poultry farmers from different parts of the country always converge to deliberate on the challenges confronting the industry and its stakeholders, as well as examining ways of making progress in their business.
Aside from beef, poultry products is another major supplier of protein in the country and Stakeholders say they have to re-strategize in order to sustain the poultry industry amidst global economic crisis.
Speaking at the event, with the theme: “Sustaining The Nigerian Poultry Industry Amidst Global Economic Crisis”, which witnessed a convergence of poultry farmers nationwide, as well as government representatives of all the South West zone, Oluleye said the call became exigent in view of the losses uncured by the PAN members, particularly in the year 2021 which threatened their existence in the sector.
Lamenting the huge losses recorded by farmers during the outbreak, which he said equated the COVID-19 pandemic, Oluleye emphasized that the federal government’s compensation for the affected farmers would amount to guaranteeing a good security for the industry which available statistics has proven to have provided employment for over 25 million Nigerians.
“We recorded huge losses to the bird flu that ravaged the country this year. We are calling on the federal government to please compensate our members who were affected by this unfortunate incident for the survival of the poultry industry.”
He also called on the federal government, through the Ministry of Agriculture and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to make more funds available for farmers to help them grow their businesses and also contribute to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.
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