New Telegraph

Maize: Poultry sector in dilemma over N641bn demand

Despite the unveiling of the first maize pyramid and flag-off of the 2021 maize wet season last week, there is clear indication that Nigerian poultry sector will still spend N641 billion ($1.36 billion) on maize importation this year to close the demand gap. The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had, however, said that it would resist importation of the cereal.

The sector is in short supply of over 4.5 million metric tonnes, which has led to massive importation in the last five years. As at April 2021, a tonne was sold for $296.56 or N139,000 in the global market, while a tonne goes for N155,000 in Nigerian market.

Meanwhile, the National President of Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN), Alhaji Bello Abubakar, attributed the current shortfall in the quantity of maize available in the market to include insecurity around the major maize producing belt of Niger, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Kano states. Abubakar identified the activities of herders and middlemen, who engage in hoarding of the cereal, as major challenges in maize production. Regardless of the challenges, the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, disclosed during the flag-off of the 2021 maize wet season farming under the CBN-Maize Association of Nigeria (MAAN)’s Anchor Borrowers’ Programme, in Kastina State, that CBN would no longer allow importation of corn. He noted that with over 50,000 bags of maize available on ground and others aggregated across the country, maize farmers were sending a resounding message that the country could grow enough maize to meet the country’s demand.

However, a poultry farmer, Mr Oyewole Somuyiwa, said in Lagos that 50,000 bags of maize was just 50 tonnes, saying that the country needed about 30 million tonnes for domestic and industrial consumption. He said that 60 per cent or 18 million tonnes was consumed by feed manufacturers. He explained that the only massive production of corn could save Nigeria from importation, adding that the country consumed over 400,000 tonnes of chicken yearly.

Somuyiwa noted that the current price of the cereal in the global market, especially United States and Brazil, was cheaper, saying that this was the reason poultry farmers and feed processors preferred to import corn in order to cut cost. However, the CBN governor said that the CBN and MAAN would increase the target hectarage for 2021 to 500,000 hectares from the 2020 target of 250,000 hectares, adding that the bank sought to introduce the use of contiguous land, high yielding seeds, mechanisation, leveraging technology for land mapping and monitoring as well as expanding the Strategic Maize Reserve (SMR).

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