Some poultry farmers in Lagos State have attributed the continuous rise in the cost of poultry produce to exploitative practices by middlemen and the rising prices of essential raw materials.
In separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Lagos, the farmers expressed concern over the growing influence of intermediaries in determining market prices.
National Publicity Chairman of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Mr. Godwin Egbebe, noted that middlemen were largely responsible for the price hikes, often making more profit than the actual producers.
“The reason for the price hike of poultry produce is closely linked to the problem of the middlemen. Poultry farmers do not make as much profit as the middlemen,” he said.
He recalled a brief relief during the Lagos State Government’s Ounje Eko initiative, which directly supported farmers and cut off the influence of middlemen.
“The only time we were able to fight the middlemen and regularise the price of poultry was during the Ounje Eko intervention by the Lagos State Government.
“The middlemen for some time during that period they were unable to exploit the prices because the government was our major off-taker,” Egbebe added.
Egbebe further lamented that prices have been rising since the programme’s suspension, as middlemen have resumed manipulating prices unchecked.
“Other factors like the price of raw materials for poultry feed such as corn, soya and groundnut paste have also increased. At farm gate, a crate of egg sells between N5,000 and N5,100 depending on the size.
“While the middlemen on the other hand sells between N5,800 and N6,200 depending on the size.
“We hope the Lagos State Government will extend its intervention in the poultry sector to cripple the price manipulations of the middlemen,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr. Adeniyi Adeniji, another poultry farmer, said the price surge was part of a broader issue affecting the entire food supply chain.
“The price increase in the poultry sector is not peculiar to the sector only. There are price increase across all food produce sectors in the market.
“Although the price of some raw materials for feed production is a major reason for the price hike, as farmers, we try as much as possible to maintain a consistent price rate.
“Although the price of corn has dropped due to the harvest but still not enough for a sudden drop in the price of eggs and poultry.
“At the farm gate, we maintain a price rate of N5,000 per crate and that is the best we can do as farmers,” he explained.
“In the Ipaja area of the state, Mrs. Agnes Muyi emphasized that poultry farmers are simply adjusting prices in line with rising production costs.
“We have no choice but to sell our produce factoring the cost of production.
“The cost of production and feed in the poultry sector is on the increase and as it does, the price of eggs and other poultry produce will be on the increase.
“Our customers still patronise us as they know that the price increase is not limited to the poultry sector alone,” she said.
