By Jide Akinseye
The incidence of egg shortage leading to increase in price of eggs has become worrisome as Poultry farmers have attributed the current price hike of eggs and scarcity to the shortage of Day-Old-Chicks (DOCs) in the country. This was disclosed by the farmers and traders in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recently in Lagos.
Earlier, NAN reported that speculations of a looming scarcity of eggs and subsequent increase in the price of the produce.
As it stands , the price of a crate of eggs from the farm gate is N5,500, as against N5,000 sold in January this year. Some retailers sell between N6,000 and N6,500, depending on the size of the eggs, while supermarkets and large groceries stores sell between N7,000 and N8,500 per crate.
Also, the chairman of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos State chapter, Mr Mojeed lyiola, said lack of DOCs was the major reason for the looming scarcity of the produce.
“The major reason for the looming scarcity of eggs is that most old layers have been sold off and poultry farmers currently have no access to DOCs.
“Presently, we cannot book for DOCs till December. Actually, all the hatcheries have been fully booked, even our national body has tried to intervene on this matter.
“Initially, we were thinking that hatcheries were exporting their DOCs because of the hard currency they are collecting, but that’s not the case now.
“When farmers go to the hatcheries to book for DOCs, aside from unavailability, every week, the prices go up,” he said.
He said the hike in the price of DOCs and the unavailability were gradually crippling the sector.
“From N1,800 last year, the price of a DOC has almost doubled to N3,300 and when farmers make their bookings, they are given a five to six months waiting period before delivery.
“Then, the farmers will incur more costs to rear the DOC for another four or five months before they will start laying.
And not all of them will start laying at the same time. For them to get to the peak, it takes another three months to boost their egg production.
“The reason for this scarcity of DOCs and subsequently eggs scarcity is because the government limited the licence for importation of parent stock.
“We are currently engaging the government to give more licences for the importation of parent stock.
“Even as an association, PAN is asking the Federal Government to give them the licence to import DOCs to cushion the scarcity,” Iyiola said
