Farmers urge CBN to identify funded poultry projects

The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) has declared that it was interested in knowing the identities of 166 ongoing poultry projects funded by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) across the country.

President of PAN, Ezekiel Ibrahim, made the call on behalf of the association at a briefing in Abuja that focused on the current situation of the Nigerian poultry industry and how to sustain the sector’s growth and development.

Ibrahim revealed that the CBN recently issued a statement where the bank stated that there were 166 ongoing poultry projects funded by the financial institution across the country.

Reacting to this, the PAN president said, “The association will be interested to know the identities of these projects and their locations across the country.

“This is to enable us see how the association can work with the projects that have correlation with and could benefit the poultry industry in Nigeria.”

He further called on the CBN to expand its monetary support to various agricultural sectors of the economy, adding that the bank should endeavour to involve more stakeholders.

“While we appreciate the CBN for its roles in the Anchor Borrowers Scheme, the association will be more grateful if all stakeholders are carried along in most of the agricultural interventions.

“This will ensure that collectively we shall have convergence of action plans to achieve meaningful development since we have common goals and objectives.”

He said the poultry industry in Nigeria was a major player in the agricultural value chain, as it took about 40 per cent of maize and 60 per cent of soyabeans produced across the country adding that poultry farmers were determined to increase the per capital consumption of poultry products by 50 per cent.

“We are also the major offtakers of rice bran, wheat offal, groundnut cake, among others,” Ibrahim added.