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By Chinyere Anyanwu
The need to develop cheaper and affordable alternative poultry feed raw materials with a view to bringing down the prices of poultry feeds that are making people not to produce poultry products at profit, has necessitated a partnership between the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) and the Raw Materials Research and Development Council (RMRDC).
The National President of PAN, Sunday Ezeobiora Sunchi, made this known recently, stating that the association seeks to ensure that poultry products are produced at the most affordable prices in such a way that every Nigerian will be able to buy an egg on a daily basis.
Sunchi also stated that the most challenging aspect of the problems of poultry production is the issue of Avian Influenza (AI) that has, and is ravaging the poultry industry in the country at the moment.
He noted that most poultry farms are closing down because of the problems of cost of feed and Avian Influenza ravaging most poultry farms without compensation from the government.
He, therefore, appealed to the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to take the issue of oversight regulation seriously by investing in active and passive surveillance to contain the scourge of Avian Influenza (AI) in the country.
“Advancing the course for vaccination against Avian Influenza is not a solution to its control since vaccination against other poultry diseases has not contained the diseases.
“The good news is that of all the subsectors of agriculture in Nigeria, poultry production is the lowest hanging fruit whose investments could have the quickest return of profit especially in a country with the highest number mouths to feed and a thriving middle class population.”
