The federal government has suggested the use of cassava peels as components for producing poultry feeds to reduce total dependence on maize as a solution to the feeds crisis in the poultry production.
Dr. Tunde Amole, the Country Representative, Nigerian International Livestock Research Institute, said that except the federal government and Nigerians come up with new ideas to address feeds crisis the cost of poultry produce, the problem of escalating prices would continue.
He spoke at the 3-day Poultry Show in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital, with the theme ‘De-risking the Nigerian Poultry Industry’.
Amole, who attributed the scarcity of feeds for poultry farming across the world to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, noted that it was high time Nigerians and researchers in the poultry sector created alternative components for poultry feeds rather than depending on maize.
He, however, called on Nigerians to adjust to the new normal, invent sustainable ways to address global crisis, look inwards for areas of comparative advantage towards solving the problem of food crisis both for human and livestock consumption.
The Ogun State Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Adeola Odedina said that the state being the largest producer of broiler and egg in Nigeria had trained 45 youths to rear 1,000 broilers each, with the profit of N150,000 in three cycles, adding that such gesture would be replicated across the 20 local government areas of the State.
Odedina, therefore, called for the assistance of the farmers by creating enabling environment for them to produce food and raw materials towards importation substitution, quality control and local value-chain operations, to combat looming food crisis in the country.
