• 35,000 farmers, processors to benefit in first phase, says AFEXAvailability and moderate price of maize – a major energy source in the poultry, fishery and livestock industries – would mean sustainability, job retention, circular flow of income, cheaper nutrition and poverty alleviation for investors and Nigerians.
The decision followed a move by critical stakeholders working with relevant government and security agencies to stop speculative activities of middlemen. Insecurity in the grain-producing states, and by extension in all parts of the country, has worsened the demand-supply gap of inputs such as feeds ingredients, product movement and market penetration.
Insurgencies, he added, had greatly affected crop production. “Most agricultural inputs should have zero tariff, but the custom imposes up to 20 per cent at times. That adds to the cost of production,” he said. He added that it is the most capitalised of all the agricultural sectors because it is capital-intensive, having vacancies for all levels of manpower, from Doctors of Veterinary Medicine , animal scientists, animal production technologists to animal farm attendants and other professionals such as accountants and marketers.
Executive Director, Animal Care and Public Relations Officer of the Ogun State chapter of the Poultry Association of Nigeria , Dr Opeyemi Agbato, said: “The direct allocation and release of maize to key feed millers under the CBN’s strategic maize reserve programme was a much-needed intervention. For it, we sincerely applaud their initiative. They made true their words and pronouncements of release.