AN ADDRESS OF THE NATIONAL PRESIDENT, POULTRY ASSOCIATION OF NIGERIA (PAN), CHIEF SUNDAY E EZEOBIORA ON THE OCCASION OF THE THIRD SOUTH EAST POULTRY SHOW – ENUGU
Distinguished Chairman of the occasion, Honourable Commissioner of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Special Invited Guests, Fellow Poultry Farmers and Exhibitors, Ladies & Gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I am here today to address you once more as the National President of our great association on the occasion of the 2024 South East Poultry Show (SEPS).
It could be recalled that with every passing year, the SOUTH EAST POULTRY Show (SEPS) gets better with many exhibitors and visitors attending the show. This is an indication of our search for excellence. As it has always been the chorus over time, the poultry industry has been at a crossroads with some challenges of production, disease outbreak, unfriendly production, and marketing environment. But one fact is that the poultry industry, despite these challenges, is one of the strongest sub-sectors of agriculture in Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. There is a need for us to appreciate ourselves on our continued resilience to keep the flame of poultry production burning despite the challenges of not only the high cost of production but the ever-dwindling purchasing power of the people to buy poultry products as the cheapest source of protein for the family. My assurance to all of us as poultry farmers is that the poultry industry will not die. It must continue to grow from strength to strength, as what we are witnessing at the moment is a phase of our overall developmental challenges. Do not despair, as we shall wake and rise again.
It is no longer news to all of us that the industry has not witnessed it so badly, like in the last five years: the COVID-19 outbreak and the lock-down that followed, the Naira redesign policy of President Buhari and Emefiele, the removal of petroleum subsidy and the floatation of the Naira and the worst is the increase of electricity tariffs. All these have contributed to the negative growth and dwindling fortune of the poultry industry.
As an association under my leadership, we have done much to see that the government comes to our aid and support, but the twine hunger of the birds (chicken) with the hunger in men and women made our efforts seem not to have yielded results by securing the allocation of maize grain from the Federal Government to the poultry industry. But it is with pride that I inform you that the window of opportunity to import maize into the country as a salvage measure for human and chicken hunger is largely because of our persistent presentations to the government. The window of opportunity has made it possible for our maize into the country to cushion the devastating costs of production. It will interest you to understand that based on the mandate to my leadership to negotiate how the Association can import maize on behalf of its members using the current window granted by the Federal Government, the Association is discussing with some partners to ensuring that it imports some Maize for the benefit of its members. We are determined, and will succeed by the help of God on our sides.
Notwithstanding all the efforts being made by the leadership, we must all brace up to take our destinies in our hands to protect our farm investments as the Federal Government's capacity to pay compensation for any disease outbreak, especially the dreaded diseases of poultry like Avian Influenza, is no longer feasible henceforth.
It is also very important that we implore and appeal to ourselves to see how we self-regulate the industry in such a way that we can control quality and competitive pricing. What the above implies is that as industry practitioners, we should be able to produce quality chicks at prices that farmers can afford. The same is true for poultry feeds.
As part of my strategy to reposition the poultry industry ahead, I want to appeal to all stakeholders and poultry farmers to close ranks and cooperate to strengthen the association, as the association is the only credible voice that has brought us to this level of development, and if we do not put our acts together, we would not be able to collectively deliver the dividends of the ban on imported poultry products of chickens and eggs. Let us not be distracted by divisive forces that tend to polarise the industry for selfish ends rather than for the collective good of the farmers, as a house divided against itself has no foothold.
My fellow poultry farmers, exhibitors, ladies, and gentlemen, there is no better theme than what we have at this year’s show, "Profitable Poultry and Livestock Business in a Competitive Economy."
The Nigerian economy is on the path to more growth though seemingly, and one way that the government can have a more win-win situation is by focusing attention on the poultry industry. We hope that the establishment of the new Ministry of Livestock Development will assist us to really reposition the poultry industry for better performance and visibility.
The poultry industry is the main supplier of cheap protein sources of egg and meat, and this cut across all the segments and objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The industry, as a complete private sector-driven economy, has the potential to drive the Nigerian economy both locally and internationally.
The industry stands to be the export hub of poultry products to the West Africa sub-region, as it can be a major foreign exchange earner for the country. What is, therefore, required of us all is a common purpose of cooperation, commitment, and the ability to provide financial support to the association by ways and means of paying our subscriptions to the association.
Finally, I want to reiterate my commitment to build a more united and formidable association where we all play our parts to take the poultry industry to an enviable height. We can not afford to have a divided house, and therefore, all hands must be on the deck so that the flames and objectives of the founding fathers of the association do not get extinguished.
Thank you all.
