Pig farmers in the Oke-Aro Estate, Agege, Lagos State, have appealed to the Federal Government to subsidise the cost of inputs in the piggery value chain to boost the growth of the sector.

The president of the pig farmers, Adewale Oluwalana, made the appeal in an interview with NAN in Lagos on Tuesday.

Oluwalana said the increasing cost of inputs was preventing new and existing investments in the sector.

He noted that the inputs such as maize, Palm kernel Cake (PKC), Soyabeans and cassava had increased by over 300 per cent in 2022.

Oluwalana said the cost of PKC, one of the major ingredient in piggery feed, had increased astronomically.

He said the value chain of PKC was huge, noting that in the past the sector contributed billions of naira to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.

”The value chain of PKC includes rearing, processing, packaging, marketing and distribution.

”We are still battling with the aftermath of the COVID-19 and outbreak of African swine fever which led to loss of animals worth over N10 billion between 2020 and 2021.

”Now, our present challenge is high cost of inputs. We want the Federal Government to come to our aid by subsiding the cost of inputs,” he said.

Oluwalana said many of the piggery farmers have not been able to recover from the loss recorded during the COVID-19.

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He added that the present rise in cost of inputs was compounding the problem in the sector.

“We want the government to assist us in the area of inputs because it is a huge challenge confronting our members.

“The cost of input is very high, thereby, preventing new and existing farmers to invest in the sector.

”In the past, a tonne of PKC costs N32,000 but now it is over N100,000,” he said.

Oluwalana noted that the farm estate which had over 3,000 members had depreciated to less than a 1,000, with majority struggling to survive.

He said the farm estate was the major supplier of piggery meat to many African countries, hence, the need for urgent intervention by the government.

“We want government to support us so that we can continue to maintain our lead in the piggery value chain in Africa.

“The Lagos State Government supported 150 of our members with three pigs each but it did not go round everyone in 2021.

“The sector is just settling down, we are in the process of resuscitating this farm estate to its past glory and we need the support of the federal and state governments.

”We have the largest farm in the whole Africa but we are living on past glory, not much is happening,” Oluwalana said.

He urged the government to subsidise cost of inputs for farmers and also support them through the Ministry of Agriculture and Central Bank of Nigeria to resuscitate the sector.

The Star