Farmers, sellers disagree over egg ‘scarcity’ in Lagos

The Egg Sellers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (ESDAN) and the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos State chapter, have disagreed over a purported egg scarcity in Lagos. The ESDAN said the scarcity of eggs in the state was artificial. The national president of the association, Mrs Olaide Graham, told the News Agency of Nigeria […]

The Egg Sellers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (ESDAN) and the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos State chapter, have disagreed over a purported egg scarcity in Lagos.

The ESDAN said the scarcity of eggs in the state was artificial. The national president of the association, Mrs Olaide Graham, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos that there was enough supply of eggs from farmers but low purchasing power by traders and distributors.

She said there seemed to be an artificial scarcity of eggs, but in the real sense, what existed was egg glut (surplus eggs with little demand).

Graham said: “There is no actual scarcity of eggs in Lagos State but a growing lack of fund by major distributors and traders to purchase the produce.

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“The situation is that some of our members have pulled out of egg business. This is largely due to unavailable capital to purchase the produce.

 “Personally, I used to be the major distributor of eggs at the Alimosho Local Government Area, where we supply eggs to our members, who pay after sales. But we are not financially buoyant enough to do that any longer; hence the unnatural scarcity of the produce in some parts of the state.

“Most egg traders are financially incapacitated and can’t do business the way they are used to doing it.”

According to the president, since the inception of the association in 2018, it has been appealing to the government to assist the sales value chain monetarily.

“They are assisting the farmers to produce eggs. The farmers are the majority but they are just a part of the value chain.

“When you assist one part to produce and neglect the other parts of the value chain, in this case, the distributors and traders, you are not doing the sector much good.

“Most egg traders that used to distribute don’t have enough funds to do so presently. The purchasing power is low.

“Furthermore, when we seek loans to stock the produce, the interest rates altogether stifles the business growth.

“What we have observed as an association is that the farmers want to be the producers as well as the marketers and traders.

“That is why there seems to be an artificial scarcity of eggs, but in the real sense, what we have is egg glut.

“Farmers also do not want to sell on credit to traders in spite of the 25 per cent intervention they got from the state government to mop up the excess produce on their farms.

“People are complaining that there are no eggs. They are available but there’s no purchasing power to buy.

“We really need government’s intervention in this aspect of the sector’s value chain,” the ESDAN president said.

In response, the PAN, Lagos State chapter debunked claims of egg scarcity in the state, reiterating the abundance of the commodity.

The chairman of the chapter, Mr Mojeed Iyiola, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos, saying the picture painted by some of the value chain actors was not correct.

Iyiola reiterated the surplus of eggs in the state and at low prices as against claims of its scarcity in certain parts of the state.

“I want to say that there are eggs available in Lagos presently. There is no scarcity. In places where they are witnessing scarcity of eggs, I don’t think it is natural. Probably, they have paucity of fund and could not buy the products. Eggs are available.

“We recently displayed crates of eggs virtually across the eight zones we have in Lagos from December 31, 2025 till the new year at ridiculously low prices.

 “We sold the crates between N4,800 and N5,000 as against the usual farm gate price of N4,900 to N5,200 per crate, just to ensure that we did not experience egg glut,” the chairman said.

Iyiola also noted that there would be a further drop in the price of eggs and chicken come Easter if the state government extends its intervention in the sector.

According to him, the probable reasons why some egg traders may not have the produce available for sale is that they may be owing their suppliers, who probably refused to give them new stock.

“For now, there is no scarcity of eggs. And we have been selling at a reasonable price for a while now because we had an intervention from the Lagos State Government and our agreement was to force the price down.

“Although the intervention has been stopped for now, the government is contemplating giving us more intervention so as to drop the price of poultry produced during the Easter period.

“If that is done, we are going to have a subsidised rate for chicken, as well as eggs during the Easter celebration,” Iyiola said.