ANGRY FARMERS.
A Thread From My sleepless Nigth...
Recently, I was on top of the roof warning d poultry farmers about d imminent scarcity of Maize and other inputs dt is about to hit the sector and how the major sector players keeps exploiting farmers by selling crazy DOC price.

Let me quickly say that this thread is just my personal opinion and observations and am not here to argue with anybody that believes the government has no major role to play in Agricultural sector nor am I here to argue with our supply and and demand online Economists.

The poultry industry in Nigeria is a multi-billion Naira sector. The ban on the importation of poultry product by the previous administration and the implementation by the present has allowed the sector to grow quickly. Unfortunately, nobody is regulating it.

Like I said earlier, I won't argue with those with the opinion that government don't have to be involve in agriculture, but I am also aware that agriculture is the most subsidized sector in the United state, China and Brazil. These are the leading lights in agriculture.

The recent Maize scarcity can only be blamed on the government. Do we even have a data to know how many metric tons of Maize the Nigeria livestock farmers consume per annum.Where is our strategic grain reserve? What is the government effort to mechanize farming? Our seed quality?

Nigerian farmers, mostly poultry farmers are left naked in the cold by the government.
No incentives, no subsidy, no regulations, no research and development, no insurance policy and plans.
Don't tell me what the private sector should do when the government failed with templates.

We still imports 90% of the micro and macro nutrients, drugs and vaccines. We relied on China and Europe for all critical inputs in the sector. The NVRI Vom, Jos has no input, no major vaccine breakthrough since inception.
No data to help farmers except the diagnostic labs.

Kepro from Holland and Beijing Centre for Biology in China are two major brands making billions out of our economy. Our Methionine and Lysines are all imported, 90% of the protein concentrates are all imported except for Hendrix that only mix in Ibadan.

I used to use the NVRI Lasota(ND) and Gomboro (IB) vaccines years back because I belive its tropicalized.
But the vaccine will sometimes disappear from the vet shelf. Am not even sure they are producing anymore.
We need local innovations to reduce our production cost.

We can not continue to import every single input in the sector and belief this will get better.
Why should we import poultry drugs, vaccines and micro nutrients as a nation?
The lack of local content in the poultry sector is costing us much. This is where the major players hides.

I usually don't complain about happenings in the poultry world because I have developed a thick skin to happenings like this over 10 years of practices. But what about the prospective investors and the newbies?
I hate it when farms are closing down or making zero profit.

Poultry investment is highly capital intensive, when it fails it could lead to HBP or death. Many investors have vowed not to come back and it's painful.
The government need to do more by investing in local content development plan for the sector.
We need to look inward

It's only by so doing the cost of producing eggs and broiler meat will be reduced. Things can not continue to recycle like this yearly and we keep pretending nothing is happening.
Right now, farmers now relied on Maize from Niger, Benin, Togo and Cameroon.

The Corvid-19 pandemic is also not helping matters
Majority of d Maize farmers are hindered,input prices on flight, massive scarcity of fertilizers.
2021 looks gloomy for poultry farmers.
Am not a prophet of doom but all indications pointed South.
We need to be prepared.