The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has called on the Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, to save the association and poultry farmers from the imposition of N5 level per bird.
This followed the directive issued by the State Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development that stipulates a mandatory payment of Five Naira per chicken slaughtered and processed in privately owned chicken processing plants across Oyo State.
In a statement signed by the Oyo PAN Chairman Elder Oyekunle Omidokun, the association urged Governor Makinde to intervene in the matter. It reads in part; “We appreciate the effort of His Excellency, Governor Seyi Makinde in ensuring that farmlands in Oyo State are secured and his continuous effort in ensuring food security in the state and Nigeria as a whole, while aligning with the mandate of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Bola Tinubu, who has designed policies that will create and sustain food security by creation of agricultural hubs to increase food production and engage in value-added processing and other best modern practices that will minimize perennial conflicts, with the overall goal of ensuring that food is abundant and less costly. We also appreciate the free distribution of maize and ongoing soft loan to poultry farmers by the
“We poultry farmers are still faced with enormous challenges of scarcity and unavailability of raw materials. Where cost of doing business has tripled in the last one year and forcing many of our poultry farmers to abandon the business and the country for greener pastures, we find it very discouraging to hear that this burden of tax is about to be introduced by the Oyo State Government.”
The association maintained that the impending policy would put Oyo State at a disadvantage position in the poultry market: “This implies that poultry farmers in Oyo State are at a disadvantaged position in the poultry market space where other chicken processors operating in other states are not burdened with such tax.
“We are in the food processing space and should not be treated differently from other food producers and processors by charging fees of N5:00k for every unit of raw materials used.
Live birds are our raw materials used in chicken processing plants. The poultry market space is currently heavily challenged with unavailability of raw materials which has made feed materials scarce and very expensive. In turn, there is scarcity of poultry meat and egg in the market due to the continuous shrink in size of the poultry industry and its players in the country.
“We hereby implore Gov. Makinde to intervene by ordering outright reversal of the impending levy which can cause huge calamity to the poultry industry”, the statement added.