Poultry farmers in Oyo State, under the aegis of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), have cried to Governor Seyi Makinde to save them and direct the state’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to rescind a slaughter levy it recently announced.
The farmers, in a statement on Thursday, said the directive issued by the agric ministry, which “stipulates a mandatory payment of N5 per chicken slaughtered and processed in privately-owned chicken processing plants in Oyo State,” is a further blow to their business.
In the Save Our Souls message signed by the chairman of PAN in Oyo State, Oyekunle Omidokun, the farmers called on Governor Makinde to save poultry farmers from impending peril following the new charges.
They said, “Poultry farmers are still faced with enormous challenges of scarcity and unavailability of raw materials. Where the cost of doing business has tripled in the last year, forcing many of our poultry farmers to abandon the business and the country for greener pastures, we find it very discouraging to hear that this burden of tax is about to be introduced by the Oyo State government.
“The poultry market space is currently heavily challenged by the unavailability of raw materials, which has made feed materials scarce and very expensive. In turn, there is a scarcity of frozen chicken in the market due to the continuous shrinkage of the poultry industry and its players in the country.”
They added that other agencies such as NAFDAC and SON “have regularly regulated and carried out inspections of the activities of the poultry processing farmers in line with their enabling statuses, covering the areas of food regulation and standard formulation with compliance, respectively, for which fees for certification and quarterly inspections are being demanded and paid to the aforementioned agencies.
“All PAN members, just like every other business entity, are subjected to other taxes, charges, and levies that are remitted to the local governments where they are based, the Oyo State government, and the Federal Government. Some of such taxes are multiple and are currently causing a huge burden to many of the members and threatening the continued existence of poultry businesses in Oyo State and Nigeria at large.”
While expressing support for the effort of Governor Makinde in ensuring that farmlands in the state are secured and his continuous effort in ensuring food security, they contended that the new policy would have adverse effects on poultry farming in the state.
The association said “the quantum effect of this impending policy implies that poultry farmers in Oyo State are in a disadvantaged position in the poultry market space where other chicken processors operating in other states are not burdened with such a tax. We only want to rear, slaughter, and process our birds without added pressure.”
They also expressed the desire to align with the mandate of President Bola Tinubu to create and sustain food security through agricultural hubs, with the overall goal of ensuring that food is abundant and less costly.
They said, “We are in the food processing space and should not be treated differently from other food producers and processors by charging fees of N5,000 for every unit of raw materials used. Live birds are our raw materials used in chicken processing plants.
“We implore Gov. Makinde to intervene by ordering an outright reversal of the impending levy, which can cause a huge calamity to the poultry industry.”
. TheWitness
