To further aid the growth of the country’s livestock sub-sector, stakeholders in the sector have advocated increased consumption of live birds to safeguard against health implications from smuggled frozen foods as well as aid growth of the sector.
Similarly, the stakeholders noted that the move will further save the country from unnecessary importation of frozen goods as well as smuggling.
Newly elected Chairman of Lagos State Poultry Association of Nigeria, Adetoyi Olabode, during the inauguration ceremony of 2015-2017 executives in Lagos, said the association is collaborating with the Nigeria Custom Service to stop the importation of the deadly frozen foods into our country as Nigeria is not a dumping ground.
“In the last three months, you would have heard in the media about the need to stop the consumption of these frozen foods, as we create awareness to Nigerians to know the implication of such consumption”, Olabode added.
Furthermore, Olabode said livestock subsector contributes over 25% of the agricultural GDP and has an estimated commercial value of N80 billion and it is also estimated that commercial poultry employs over 25 million people while about 85 million are in rural family poultry, managing assets of about N320 billion.
Olabode disclosed that poultry farm has a special advantage over other types of livestock enterprises as a result of its ease of establishment and short business maturity, adding that it is also a means of providing answers to the challenge of youth unemployment in the country.
He also advised youths to consider poultry farming as an option for a means of livelihood as it is easier to run and start.
His words: “Poultry farming is an easy business to run; it depends on your scale. Poultry is lucrative, profitable and it has a sub-gestation period that if you run it properly, it will be profitable, I advise that newcomers should seek knowledge about the business so that they will know how to go about it”.
He however appealed to government to help abate the suffering of poultry farmers as they consider incentives in the area of tax, quick provision of Certificate of Occupancy to farmlands, abolition of multiple taxation and provision of soft loan for farmers at single digit interest rates which will make life easier for their operations.
News source-Guardian
