President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of 5,000 Metric Tonnes (MT) of maize from the National Strategic Grains Reserve to support the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) at a subsidized rate. The subsidized rate is N90,000 per MT, as against the current market price of N170, 000.
Muhammad Sabo Nanono, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, conveyed this information in a letter from the State House. The letter was signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Ibrahim Gambari, according to a statement issued by Theodore Ogaziechi, the ministry’s Director of Information. “The poultry industry, which accounts for about 27 per cent of the agricultural gross domestic product (AGDP) of the economy and provides about 20 million direct and indirect employments, will heave a sigh of relief as this will to a great extent help resolve the challenge of the poultry feeds scarcity currently ravaging the industry,” the statement read.
The statement assured the poultry farmers of the readiness of the ministry to immediately comply with the presidential directive “in order to salvage the huge investment of about N10 trillion in the industry.”
Before now, the CBN had announced the ban on the maize importation in an effort to boost local production. Traders and farmers attributed the hike in prices to the scarcity and sudden increase in the cost of the grain.
