Interest rate: Poultry farmers urge govt’s intervention

Mr. Ayoola Oduntan, President, Poultry Association of Nigeria, has called on the Federal Government to intervene and do something urgently to bring down interest rates available for lending to the agricultural sector.


Oduntan who made the call at the 2017 Poultry Summit in Lagos recently said, “High interest rate is still hindering the growth of the poultry sector. I am not aware of anywhere in the world where farmers pay up to 27 per cent as interest rate. If they take such loans, they will end up working for the banks because 27 per cent interest rate is not viable for the industry.”

He added that the industry is also currently battling with the low purchasing power of consumers due to the high inflation rate, maintaining that poultry farmers had continued to record low sales in eggs and chickens.

“We have had probably the worst egg glut in the past two decades and the last aggregate we gathered reveals that we have in excess of over N 1billion worth of unsold frozen chicken in cold rooms. There is a bit of a price war on chicken. We have lived through very tough times.  We have had negative Gross Domestic Product in our pockets for at least two straight years.”

Also speaking at the event, Prof. Adeyinka Odunsi, National President of the World Poultry Science Association, Nigeria Branch, said the Nigerian poultry industry is facing a lot of challenges as a result of the economic downturn in the country.

Odunsi said, “The poultry industry is facing a lot of challenges and it is not insulated from the present economic recession being faced by the country. This is why we are advising the managers of the Nigerian economy to focus on agriculture as a way to get us out of the present economic downturn.

“The Federal Government can help in reviewing interest rates downwards for the industry by providing single-digit interest rates for poultry farmers.”



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