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The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has raised the alarm over the rising cost of poultry feed and day-old chicks, warning that the development is threatening the survival and growth of the industry.
National Vice President of PAN and Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the 2026 Eastern International Poultry Summit, Sir Izuolisa Onu, raised the concern on Wednesday in Enugu at the summit, themed, “From farm to market: Scaling Nigeria’s poultry trade and investment.”
Onu said poultry farming remained one of the fastest ways to address food insecurity, create jobs and generate wealth, but regretted that high production costs and other challenges were making it increasingly difficult for farmers to remain in business.
He listed the high cost of feed and day-old chicks, weak cold-chain logistics, limited access to finance and poor market linkages as major challenges confronting the industry.
He called on the Federal Government to introduce policies that would reduce risks in the sector and make poultry farming more attractive to local and foreign investors.
Onu also urged young Nigerians to consider poultry farming as a viable avenue for entrepreneurship, saying the industry had enormous potential to create jobs and contribute significantly to the nation’s economy.
“Poultry remains one of the fastest pathways to food security, job creation and wealth generation in our nation. Yet, we all know the gaps: the high cost of feed and day-old chicks, weak cold-chain logistics, limited access to finance and market linkages that fail to connect the farmer to the consumer.
“Today, we are not here to lament these challenges. We are here to solve them,” he said.
According to him, the summit was designed to address gaps across the poultry value chain, from breeding and hatchery operations to feed production, farming, processing, distribution and consumption.
He said greater coordination among players in the value chain would help unlock the sector’s economic potential.
“When we align production with markets, and production with finance, Nigeria’s poultry sector will not just feed us, it will employ us and export for us,” Onu said.
Also speaking, the Executive Director, Natural Resources, Agriculture and Rural Development, South East Development Commission (SEDC), Dr Cliff Mgbede, pledged the commission’s support for poultry farmers in the region.
Mgbede said the commission would engage PAN executives and industry experts to identify the major problems confronting farmers and develop practical interventions.
“We are here to support the Poultry Farmers Association. We are encouraged by what we have seen and what they are doing on their own. As a government institution, we want to come and support them,” he said.
He said SEDC would also work with stakeholders to formulate policies that would reduce investment risks and establish a regional market for poultry products.
“We will formulate policies with their inputs and come up with a regional market for them to de-risk investment in agriculture, especially poultry, so that people can feed well and also make money,” Mgbede said.
He added that reducing investment risks and creating a strong regional market would attract more investors, strengthen food security and generate employment across the South-East.
