By MERCY OMOIKE

The Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), Lagos State chapter, has disclosed plans to set up sale points at Local Government Areas in the state to cut down the price of its produce.

The PAN Chairman, Lagos State chapter, Mr Mojeed Iyiola, said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Lagos.

Iyiola noted that the consistent rise in the price of poultry produce has posed a concern to the association, hence the decision to sell to the public.

“We are currently working with the local government areas in Lagos State to give us space in their premises where we can sell the produce at affordable price without the interference of middlemen.

“This will help cushion the effects of the hike in the price of poultry produce for the common man, as we can now sell to them directly,” Iyiola said.

He also reiterated that in spite of the drop in the price of maize in the local markets, the cost of feed production is on the high side.

“The maize price that dropped was as a result of government assistance, and we still the need the assistance of the government in the sale of the eggs and poultry produce at stable prices.

“The price of maize may have dropped but it is just one of the 15 ingredients in the formulation of poultry feed. We have almost 14 other ingredients and their prices are not stable at all.

“Maize takes almost 60 per cent of the total components of feed composition. Other ones are very in smaller quantity but their prices are so high.

“You can imagine we used to buy a 25kg bag of Methylene between N25,000 and N30,000, but now the same quantity sells at N150,000.

“Same goes to lysine, urea is not dropping, groundnut cake is not dropping, they maintain their prices and also influence the price of eggs,” PAN chairman said.

According to him, a crate of eggs sells from N5,000 to N5,500 at the farm gate.

“At the farm gate we sell a crate of egg from N5,000 to N5,500, while the middlemen sell from N6,000 or N6,500 per crate. (NAN)