Caleb Onwe 
The Poultry Farmers Association of Nigeria ( PAN) has urged Nigerians to brace up for more increases in egg prices soon.
This, the association said, would be consequential to the recent increment on the pump price of fuel in the country.
The National Secretary of PAN, Musa Hakeem who spoke in Abuja on Friday at a press conference to mark this year’s World Egg Day, noted that the imminent increase would be to cushion the effects of transportation of eggs from the farms to the market.
Hakeem, who also called on President Bola Tinubu to declare an emergency on egg production, stated that due to the hardship poultry farmers face in terms of feed procurement and transportation, the farmers intend to raise the “ farm gate” price for buying eggs to N6,000.
He, however, regretted that the cost of eggs has continued to soar high in the country because all the interventions on the livestock subsector which the government had bragged about were only felt in the media reportage without any significant impact on industry.
While he commended the government’s efforts, especially the Tinubu President’s policies for the creation of the Livestock Development Ministry, he called for concerted synergy to increase egg production.
According to him, neglecting the livestock sector, especially egg production, would have a grave disadvantage on the health and nutrition of Nigerians.
Hakeem said, “ The federal government as a matter of urgent (sic) declare a state of emergency on Egg production in the country because it’s on serious decline currently and protein intake. The citizens of this country can not afford to depend on the importation of eggs.
“ Intervention programs aimed at cushion ( sic) the effect of these challenges faced by poultry farmers should be judiciously monitored so that such intervention can get to the farmers who need them because we only hear and read them on the pages of newspapers the implementation of such programs over time”.
