to discourage dumping of the product on the country, stimulate home production of the powder and develop the poultry value chain.
A former president of the Poultry Association of Nigeria , Mr Kabiru Ibrahim, Poultry Association of Nigeria once said, “We need to start processing eggs into powder to help address the issue of egg glut in the country and also increase the shelf life of our eggs.” Mr Banji Akanji, a former chairman of the Poultry Association of Nigeria , Oyo State chapter, said advocated a total ban on the importation of the product, saying, “my opinion is, let there be a total ban on importation of egg powder to the country. The government should ban its importation.”
John Olateru, a breeder and hatchery owner in Ibadan, said “All those conglomerates using powdered egg in Nigeria are mischievous. They have facilities to dry the eggs. Whenever they have a challenge with the quality of the imported powdered eggs, they do make use of fresh local eggs. “They report to Assistant General Managers in Europe. And what they are doing is to use the importation to siphon foreign exchange. Most of the powdered egg is from The Netherlands. They are the owners of producing subsidiaries and they determine whatever price to sell to the Nigerian subsidiary to siphon foreign exchange.
“Most people don’t know about it. Currently, we can process about 50,000 eggs in a day and that is close to one tonne per day, depending on the size of the eggs. Though we have been trying to expand, we must have a market for it,” he said, calling on the government for policies that would boost home production.
Egg glut? Eggs are not that affordable. But the idea id good