Farmer blames egg scarcity on Yuletide celebrations

A Lagos-based poultry farmer, Mr Efe Oduware, has attributed the current scarcity of eggs and attendant price hike in the country to the Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Oduware made the remark on Monday in Lagos, while speaking on the decline in the production level and high cost of eggs.
He said that egg production was always at its lowest ebb in the early part of the year, following the massive sales of the old layers during the Yuletide.
He said: “Generally, egg production at the beginning of a new year is usually at a low ebb because most poultry farmers have sold their layers during the Yuletide.
“The egg sizes are also smaller now because most of the old stock had been sold in December and the farmers are now re-stocking new birds.
“It is at the end of the year that most poultry farmers experience highest sales of their old layers, whivh they cultivated for close to one year or more.”
According to Oduware, “By December, the layers will no longer be active for laying because they have outlived their active period of egg laying.
“The period when the layers cease to lay eggs is called the cull period, so the birds are sold off and replaced at the beginning of the new year,” he said.
He also spoke about the period of egg glut which, he said, “is a period when we have excess eggs in the market.”
”The egg glut season usually coincides with periods when school children are on holiday, because a large ratio of egg consumers are school-age children in their breakfasts.
He said that with the resumption of schools and increase in the demand for eggs, amidst low production rate, “the price of egg automatically rises.”
“Presently, a crate of eggs goes for about N900 from about N800 at the farm and by the time it gets to the retailer, it will go for between N1,100 and N1,200,” the farmer said.