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Nigerian govt subsidises 5,000MT of maize for poultry farmers

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President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of 5,000 metric tons of maize from the National Strategic Grains Reserve to support the Poultry Association of Nigeria at a subsidised rate.

The declaration was made in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday and signed by Theodore Ogaziechi, Director of Information at the Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of 5,000 Metric Tonnes of maize from the National Strategic Grains Reserve to support the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) at a subsidized rate of N90,000 (Ninety Thousand Naira only per Metric tonne as against the current market price of N170,000 (One Hundred and Seventy Thousand Naira only).
“This was conveyed to the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Alhaji Muhammad Sabo Nanono in a letter from State House with reference No: SH/COS/05/A/26/1, signed by the Chief of Staff to the President, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari,” the statement said.

It added that the poultry industry, which contributes approximately 27% of the Agricultural Gross Domestic Product of the economy and accounts for 20 million direct and indirect jobs, will be relieved by the move given that it will help address “the challenge of the poultry feeds ravaging the industry.”

Read also: CBN issues emergency approval to four firms to import maize

The minister, the document said, also urged poultry farmers to instantly comply with the president’s directive without delay in order to alleviate the ordeal they face in the high prices of the commodity.

“Alhaji Nanono has assured the poultry farmers of the readiness of the ministry to immediately comply with the presidential directive in order to salvage the huge investment of about N10 trillion in the industry.”

In a related development, President Buhari Thursday announced via his Twitter handle, @MBuhari, government’s approval of release of 30,000 metric tons of maize from the national reserves to poultry feed manufacturers to resolve the issue of high cost of poultry production.

“To ease the current high cost of poultry production, I have approved the release of 30,000 tons of maize from the national reserves, to animal feed producers,” he said.

The president went further to say “we are very mindful of the challenge of high food prices, at a time when the economy is already in a slowdown caused by the global Coronavirus situation, and are doing everything in our power to bring down the prices of food items across the country.”

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