Some poultry farmers in Lagos State have blamed the consistent hike in the price of the produce to the manipulations of middlemen and cost of raw materials.
The poultry farmers disclosed this in separate interviews with the our Correspondent on Friday in Lagos.
The National Publicity Chairman, Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Mr Godwin Egbebe, blamed the hike on the greedy of middlemen, who exploit the prices for more gain.
“The reason for the price hike of poultry produce is closely linked to the problem of the middlemen. Poultry farmers do not make as much profit as the middlemen.
“The only time we were able to fight the middlemen and regularise the price of poultry was during the Ounje Eko intervention by the Lagos State Government.
“The middlemen for some time during that period they were unable to exploit the prices because the government was our major off-taker,” Egbebe said.
He also noted that the price of poultry produce had been on the increase since the suspension of the Ounje Eko programme due to the activities of the middlemen.
“Other factors like the price of raw materials for poultry feed such as corn, soya and groundnut paste have also increased. At farm gate, a crate of egg sells between N5,000 and N5,100 depending on the size.
“While the middlemen on the other hand sells between N5,800 and N6,200 depending on the size.
“We hope the Lagos State Government will extend its intervention in the poultry sector to cripple the price manipulations of the middlemen,” he said.
Mr Adeniyi Adeniji, a poultry farmer, said the price increase was not peculiar to the sector but across the food sector.
“The price increase in the poultry sector is not peculiar to the sector only. There are price increase across all food produce sectors in the market.
“Although the price of some raw materials for feed production is a major reason for the price hike, as farmers, we try as much as possible to maintain a consistent price rate.
“Although the price of corn has dropped due to the harvest but still not enough for a sudden drop in the price of eggs and poultry.
“At the farm gate, we maintain a price rate of N5,000 per crate and that is the best we can do as farmers,” Adeniji said.
Another poultry farmer at Ipaja area of the state, Mrs Agnes Muyi, said the poultry farmers would only sell the produce factoring the cost of production.
“We have no choice but to sell our produce factoring the cost of production.
“The cost of production and feed in the poultry sector is on the increase and as it does, the price of eggs and other poultry produce will be on the increase.
“Our customers still patronise us as they know that the price increase is not limited to the poultry sector alone,” Muyi said.
