Plateau egg mop-up: Good policy, growing complaints

President Goodluck Jonathan said the border closure became inevitable, following suspicions that nationals of some neighbouring countries were the masterminds of the spate of bomb blasts and other attacks in some parts of Nigeria. However, observers maintain that the border closure, which no doubt, has been helpful in improving the security situation, is somewhat hurting […]

President Goodluck Jonathan said the border closure became inevitable, following suspicions that nationals of some neighbouring countries were the masterminds of the spate of bomb blasts and other attacks in some parts of Nigeria.

However, observers maintain that the border closure, which no doubt, has been helpful in improving the security situation, is somewhat hurting the economies of some states in the country.

One such state is Plateau State, whose poultry farmers largely depend on markets in Chad, Niger, Mali and Cameroon for sales of their eggs.

Mr Stephen Barko, the Commissioner for Agriculture, says that Plateau has more than 3,000 poultry farmers who produce large quantities of eggs every day.

He notes that the poultry farmers usually sell their eggs to large-scale buyers from neighbouring countries since the local buyers cannot buy up the eggs.

“A lot of foreign buyers depend so much on eggs from Plateau because the state’s weather facilitates the production of high-quality eggs. Our eggs are not only big in size but they are also more nutritious and they have a longer life-span.

“Our eggs can also withstand any kind of weather; they are usually preferred by foreign embassies, expatriates and tourists,’’ he says.

Buoyed by the massive demand for eggs, producers have been on the rise in Plateau over the years. As a result of the border closure, many producers have already suffered huge losses in view of a massive eggs’ glut, which Mr Julius Gusan, the Chairman of the Poultry Farmers Association, says is unprecedented.

Worried by the emerging bleak situation, Gov. Jonah Jang on Feb. 16 announced the release of N30 million to mop up excess eggs in the state, as part of efforts to minimise the farmers’ losses and encourage them.

Jang says that the gesture is a risk-sharing measure aimed at providing succour to poultry farmers, while forestalling a total destruction of their investments over the years.

Barko explains that the eggs acquired under the initiative would be shared out to schools, hospitals and motherless babies’ homes.

Mr Jacob Wangdem, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, says the mopped up eggs will be distributed to ante-natal and immunisation centres, adding that the eggs will be distributed to pregnant women as perks to encourage them to seek ante-natal care and immunisation for their newborns.

Details of the exercise indicate that eggs from registered farmers will be purchased at prices between N450 to N550 per crate, depending on the size of the eggs.

However, a senior official of the Ministry of Agriculture says that farmers are expected to pay N3,500 to register at the Desk Office and pay between N2,000 and N5,000, depending on the size of their farms, to register with the Poultry Farmers’ Association.

The official, who preferred anonymity, says that a maximum of 100 to 600 crates will be purchased from each farmer, depending on his farm’s capacity.

He explains that the ministry is poised to spend a maximum of N50,000 to buy 100 crates of eggs from a farm with up to 499 birds.

The sum of N200,000 will be used to buy 400 crates from a farm with 500 to 4,999 birds,  while N300,000 is set aside to purchase 600 crates of eggs from a farm with 5,000 birds and above, the official adds

But as the ministry gets set to begin the exercise, some poultry farmers are protesting against the mandatory registration fees they are expected to pay before benefiting from the programme.

The farmers insist that the fees are a kind of extortion by the Ministry of Agriculture’s officials, in the guise of implementing the eggs mop-up initiative.

Some of the farmers lament that the fees have made it virtually impossible for them to offer their excess eggs for sale to the government.

They accuse Barko of instigating “the outrageous registration fees” and insist that the fees are counterproductive, as the charges may frustrate the good intentions of the government in setting up the intervention fund.

“One is being forced to pay the fees but there is no guarantee that one’s eggs will be purchased eventually. Even if the eggs are purchased, we are not sure of how many crates of eggs will be purchased from each farmer and for how much,’’ says Mr Amos Yakubu, who owns a 500-bird poultry farm.

Besides, Yakubu wonders why he is now required to renew his membership of the Poultry Farmers Association and suspects that the payments are a plot aimed at disqualifying most farmers from benefiting from the initiative.

Mrs Joke Adebayo, another poultry farmer based in the Terminus area of Jos, shares similar sentiments.

“Asking farmers to pay fees to get their eggs sold would defeat the governor’s good intention and it would further worsen the economic conditions of poultry farmers who have already suffered losses.

“If government buys a farmer’s eggs at N450 per crate and he pays N5,500 as registration fees; it means the eggs are actually bought at a lesser price,’’ she says

Another farmer, Mr Obinna Chukwuemeka, also faults the ministry’s argument that the registration fees are aimed at generating extra revenue for the state.

“It is not right to generate revenue from a bailout initiative aimed at rescuing poultry farmers who are already groaning under the yoke of losses.

“Plateau State boasts of about 5,000 poultry farmers and by the time you multiply N5,500 registration fees by 5,000 farmers, it is a cool N27.5 million. This is beside those farmers who would pay N8,500.

“Why will they want to generate money before implementing a bailout programme for which the governor has magnanimously released N30 million?

“We believe he (Jang) is not after the money. We feel that the governor’s aim is to save us from huge losses and we are calling on him to save us from the emerging exploitation,’’ Chukwuemeka says.

Many other stakeholders have also expressed reservations over the fees and they accused some government officials of trying to exploit the situation for some personal gains.

A university lecturer, Mr Paul Ade, who is a poultry farmer, queries the agriculture ministry’s sincerity of purpose.

He argues that he is not convinced that all his eggs will be bought after paying the mandatory fees since government has already decided that only 50,000 crates of eggs would be bought on a “first come, first buy basis’’.

Some of the poultry farmers also allege that government officials are conniving with the Poultry Farmers Association to further exploit them, citing the dual fees charged by the ministry and the association as an illustration.

However, a check at the Desk Office shows that many farmers have complied, as an official, who craves anonymity, says that the farmers’ response is “very encouraging’’.

Gusan, the Chairman of the Poultry Farmers Association, nonetheless, sees the registration fees as legitimate charges and explains that they vary in relation to a farm’s capacity.

“The minimum membership registration fee is N2,000, while those that have large farms pay up to N5,000,” Gusan says, adding, however, that he cannot confirm the actual number of poultry farmers in Plateau.

Sharing similar sentiments, Barko insists that the charges are somewhat justifiable.

“The fees are being charged to generate revenue. Unregistered farmers will not be covered by the initiative,’’ he stresses.

The commissioner insists that poultry farmers can only benefit from eggs mop-up initiative — a market guarantee programme — after paying the “token fees”.

“Government intends to buy a total of 50,000 crates of eggs at N500 each instead of the prevailing market price of N700 because the intervention is only a risk-sharing measure and not a pure commercial initiative.

“It is just an intervention; it is aimed at giving our farmers something so that they don’t lose out completely,” he says.

Barko, however, is not ready to respond to the farmers’ allegation of extortion, insisting that he does not owe anyone any explanation in that regard.

“As far as the issue of extortion is concerned, that is your problem and headache,’’ he shrieks.

But as the government officials and the farmers bicker over the modalities of the eggs’ mop-up initiative, analysts have expressed fears that further delays may frustrate the desirability of the programme and its purpose since eggs are a perishable commodity.

(NANFeatures)