Chairman, Poultry Farmers Association of Nigeria, Mr. John Olateru, expresses concern about low egg consumption and illegal importation of frozen chicken, among other issues. He spoke with AKINWALE ABOLUWADE

What are the challenges facing your association?

The challenges we are facing right now are in three folds. The first one is the issue of raw materials that we use as feeds, which constitute over 70 per cent of the composition of the feeds. The raw materials, I am talking about, are maize and soya beans. The second challenge has to do with egg. The low consumption pattern of egg in the country is disturbing. Nigerians are not consuming egg the way we suppose to. The third one is the massive importation of chicken. This is to the detriment of local industry. Those are the three major challenges. And the worse of all, some of the companies that used our eggs before for the manufacturing of baby food have stopped using them. They are now using imported powdered eggs. This is at the expense of local production.

What is responsible for this?

The problem is in two folds. The bulk of it is as a result of inconsistency in government policy. The second is the laxity on the part of government agencies. An example is Customs not doing what they are supposed to do diligently in terms of keeping the borders. In the area of importation, all over the world there is regulation. In advanced world, they look at what the construction patterns are, what the volume of local production is and they use that to decide if at all they need to import just to augment what they produce locally. There is nowhere in the industrialised world that they open up their borders at the expense of local companies. This is what is happening in this country. And, there is the need for enlightenment of the people on the importance of egg consumption on daily basis to our people. The poultry farmers association alone cannot do it because we don’t have the wherewithals; we need the support of government to help us change people’s mindset on the consumption of egg, which is the cheapest source of protein.

You are already complaining about low egg consumption in the country. With the right attitude to egg consumption, does the association have the capacity for local consumption?

We are producing more than is presently required. Initially, we thought that our brothers from the North were the ones consuming the bulk of the eggs being produced because they usually come down to Oyo and other neighbouring states to buy and move up north. People from the North actually buy more than 50 per cent of our total production. But the security challenges in the North leading to the declaration of state of emergency did not help matters. This affects egg transportation across the neighbouring countries through the north because the problem affects the major routes through which eggs are exported. We now realise that egg is transported as far as Central Africa Republic and Mali. So, in terms of local production capacity, we are producing more than enough. People are also pulling out of poultry business because the cost of production is very high. This boils down to the government agencies because if the value chain that the current Minister of

Agriculture is talking about is actually operated the way it was conceived, we believe that maize and soya beans would be available at competitive price and at par with what obtains all over the world. If we can do that the production cost will reduce and a lot of people can be encouraged. Poultry business is lucrative if we can bring the cost of input down by mass production of soya beans and maize. We will be able to bridge arbitrary increases of price of maize and soya beans. At the end of the day, we will have low cost of input. If we can be getting maize at the cost of N40,000 per tonne and we can get soya beans around N55,000 per tone, I can assure you that the cost of producing frozen chicken will be so low that many Nigerians will be able to consume it. A lot of Nigerians are not employed, even if there is going to be a short gap measure within a matter of six months or one year, Nigeria will be a big exporter of eggs and chicken.

Considering our population, what is responsible for low consumption of egg? Is it that people prefer fish and beef to egg?

Our medical doctors are not helping the matter. Unfortunately, they tell the people that once you are 40 and above, you should stay away from protein. This is complete wrong information and we are talking with them now. If you ask a well experienced human nutritionist, he will tell you egg contains everything that human beings need and it is the best source of protein and people are wrongly informed. You cannot compare egg, which contains all the vitamins and protein an individual needs (about 40 grammes of protein per egg) with beef or cow skin. For instance, a piece of cow skin cannot go for less than N50 and that is even more expensive than the cost of an egg. And come to think of it cow skin has zero nutritional value.

Now you can get egg for N30, with this you don’t need to take vitamins drugs. We find out that the doctors are discouraging the people from eating egg because they believe Nigerians don’t do exercise, that is a wrong thing. If people are not exercising, the best thing to do is to encourage them to exercise. If you tell parents not to eat egg anymore at a particular age, how will you convince such parents to make egg available for their children? It is what the parents consume that they give to their children. And if you care to know, egg is very good for the children’s brain formation. The consumption pattern is low in Nigeria and that is wrong. In India today, they have changed their mental reasoning about consumption of egg. Their national government came to their aid through public enlightenment programme. Today, India is the largest producer of egg in the whole world. They were in the 30th position 15 years ago. They have moved up despite the fact that some of their religions were against egg. Now, they know the value of egg and that raised their standard of living as well as health status. We, as an association, don’t have the resources to embark on the egg awareness campaign but the government does. We have appealed to governments at various levels to help. I can tell you that the World Health Organisation recommended that an individual should be having 70 grammes of animal protein per day. In Nigeria, we are consuming less than 14 grammes per day where in one egg you have 40 grammes of animal protein.

You talked about illegal importation of frozen chicken, why is it so difficult to end the illegal trade?

Last year alone, the Republic of Benin imported 130,000 metric tonnes of frozen chicken. From our investigation and the data we are able to get, 90 per cent of that were smuggled into the country. There is no country anywhere in the world that will fold its arms and allow a neighbouring country to be wrecking its economy. The worst thing is that through this illegal deal, they break the cold chain of the chicken. When you break the cold chain, the status of the product is reduced. That is why they use the chemical used in preserving corpses to preserve the frozen chicken. In spite of this, you see some of the chicken already decomposed and our people still buy. Our people don’t know the implication of this. The chemical used in preserving the chicken can cause cancer. Cancer is building gradually and it takes time to develop. Apart from the Customs, NAFDAC is there to monitor activities of illegal importers of products. In the wee hours, you see truckload of frozen chicken being illegally imported into Nigeria from Republic of Benin. They have their major distribution points at Ijora. All the government agencies are pretending as if nothing happens.

I can tell you we can feed our people and help the Federal Government in generating employment. We have the potential. All we need is to do the right thing.

What is the factor that makes maize and soya beans very scarce?

Federal Government is having reservoir all over the country but go in there you will find no maize because there is low production of maize. That is a clear cut indication for you to know that what we are producing is not enough. And when the supply is low while demand is high you know what will happen. The price will go up. The same thing goes for soya beans and in this country, you don’t have any data. No one anywhere can give you the data of total volume of soya beans and maize that we produce. Soya beans and maize are majorly used for livestock feeds and they are also being used by the manufacturing industries. We suggest mass production of maize and soya to cut down the production cost of eggs and chicken.

culled from :http://www.punchng.com/business/agric-economy/northerners-consume-50-of-eggs-produced-in-nigeria-•-some-smugglers-of-frozen-chicken-preserve-them-with-chemical-used-in-preserving-corpses/

well the chicken is fuckin' dead. isn't it?

Logic Mind: well the chicken is fuckin' dead. isn't it?

lmaoooooooooooo

Logic Mind: well the chicken is fuckin' dead. isn't it?

True that. But the point is, that it is detrimental to our health. The article clearly states that it causes cancer. Hmmmmmm, problem dey for this country o. At least henceforth, I will only consume farm raise live chicken and not the frozen kind

even like eating only fowl not chicken hope you know the difference between fowl and chicken.

Na wa oo!How does the country check against deadly diseases like samonella and ecoli that are most like associated with unsanitized chicken and eggs if they have no control of their flow in the country?

Nigerians are at the mercies of the elements and they cry of death everyday,even when they constantly swim in death pools.

antartica: Na wa oo!How does the country check against deadly diseases like samonella and ecoli that are most like associated with unsanitized chicken and eggs if they have no control of their flow in the country?

Nigerians are at the mercies of the elements and they cry of death everyday,even when they constantly swim in death pools.

you mean they cry to god everyday?