Nigerian fast food restaurants fear scarcity of chicken

There is a scarcity of chicken to meet the demand of consumers in most fast food restaurants across Nigeria, the chief executive of Food Concept Group, owner of Chicken Republic, Deji Akinyanju has said.

Akinyanju speaking at the maiden Poultry Show and Exhibition, organised by the Poultry Association of Nigeria in Abeokuta, Ogun State, called on the Federal Government to provide an intervention fund for the mass production of chicken.

According to him, Chicken Republic does not have enough fowls to satisfy its teeming customers because poultry farming is not meeting the capacity to supply the required number of birds for consumers. Chicken Republic has since collaborated with Ogun State government to produce fowl in large number, adding that the farm would be producing about one million birds in a month.

Dr Ayo Oduntan, chairman of the association attributed the low production of chicken to scarcity of poultry feeds, adding that the raw materials for the production of poultry feeds are costly while there is no intervention from the government to address the scarcity of poultry feeds.

According to him, the poultry industry will consume two million tonnes of maize but it has not been able to get anything near it. “If we can get enough supply of maize, which is the main ingredient for poultry feeds, the government would have solved 70% of our problem in poultry industry but as it is now, to run poultry farming is capital intensive,” he said.

Kabiru Baskari, the national president of the association concluded that the sector would need about N600 billion to save the country from food scarcity.

Source: Nigerian Tribune