Egg sellers seek synergy to boost productivity

The Egg Sellers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (ESDAN) has called for empowerment and synergy of all the value chains in the poultry sector for growth and development.

The ESDAN National President, Mrs Olaide Graham, made this call in an interview with our correspondent on Friday in Lagos.

Graham noted that in spite of the massive production of eggs and other poultry produce, lack of synergy across the sector’s value chain was affecting its growth potential.

“Although Nigeria may be the largest producer of eggs in Africa, the present production of eggs now is not enough for Nigerians.

“But when we are discussing egg production, we should not leave aside adequate egg distribution. This is because after farmers produce massively and are unable to sell it, there will be glut in sector .

“For effective running of the poultry sector everything has to be put in place. The value chain has to be working perfectly before we can even think about scaling up our production.

“If the government invests money only on the farmers and production of eggs, the industry will still suffer if we don’t have adequate distribution of the produce. All the value chains must be adequately functioning,” Graham said.

Graham who commended the Federal Government for supporting the local farmers noted that all the stakeholders in the sector must be empowered to ensure food security.

“This government has done well for the local agriculture sector, in fact, they are trying but all value chains in the sector need to be empowered and not just the farmers alone.

“There should be synergy across all the value chains in the agriculture sector for each to thrive.

“The distributors, the feed millers, the transporters and every other key player in the industry should be empowered.

“For instance, the veterinary doctors should be carried along. Presently a lot of farmers are producing feed by themselves which is not inline with best practices and will ultimately result in eggs produced not lasting up to a month. This is where the Vets come in.

“Both the farmers and the distributors need to be empowered because if farmers produce and distributors don’t have money to go and buy, there will be issues,” Graham said.