Antibiotics hinder local egg powder production – Lagos farmers

Major food companies still reject locally produced egg powder because Nigerian poultry farmers commonly use antibiotics to treat birds, unlike producers in Europe who rely more on probiotics, Lagos poultry farmers have said.

In a phone interview with The PUNCH, the Chairman of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter, Mojeed Iyiola, said the industry must change its production practices and dedicate farms to producing eggs from birds that had not received antibiotics before Nigeria could compete effectively with imported egg powder.

He said the antibiotic residue concerns had made major companies, such as Cadbury, prefer imported egg powder, despite the availability of locally produced eggs.

“The reason is that in Nigeria, we use some of the major antibiotics to treat some of our birds, but in Europe, they don’t use antibiotics. They have probiotics they are using. The antibiotic elements shouldn’t be in the egg powder. It has a detrimental effect on human consumption,” Iyiola said.

He noted that farmers must adopt specialised production systems for birds whose eggs would go into egg powder, adding that such birds should not receive antibiotics even when they fall sick.

“Any egg that we are going to be using for the egg powder, it has to be specially produced. Such birds that are producing that kind of egg, shouldn’t be treated with antibiotics, no matter the case of their sickness,” he said.

Iyiola said the government must support farmers with improved production practices and help establish a reliable supply of eggs suitable for processing.

He said, “By the time we start up with the egg powder factory, we need to have special farmers that are producing that kind of egg for us, in the production of egg powder.”

The farmers also called on the Lagos State Government to fast-track the take-off of the proposed egg powder factory in Igbodo, Epe, saying the facility could provide a solution to the huge quantities of eggs that farmers currently lose because of weak demand.

“The factory is yet to begin functioning. We acknowledge that Lagos State has tried their best, but the best will not be materialised until the factory starts operation. So instead of losing eggs like this, we convert it to egg powder, and that is more storable,” Iyiola said.

He said processing fresh eggs into powder would extend their shelf life and create an alternative market for poultry farmers.

“For years, so far, the air hasn’t entered. That’s the best way of preserving eggs. We turn it to egg powder for conventional usage, and we have adequate use for egg powder,” he said.

The call comes amid worsening concerns over food affordability, weak consumer demand and mounting losses among poultry farmers.

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Iyiola had earlier told The PUNCH that the perishable nature of eggs forced farmers to reduce prices whenever sales dropped.

“In my line of the food business, anytime we have a drop in the sales of eggs, we normally beat the price down because eggs are a perishable item. It can’t stay for long,” he said.

He said farmers destroyed thousands of crates of eggs weekly because they could not sell them before they spoiled.

“So, farmers are suffering seriously because thousands of crates of eggs are being buried every week, due to low sales. When it happens like that, we normally beat the price down at least for easy consumption,” Iyiola said.

He added, “In our own case, our prices are not going up. Rather, it comes down to us disposing of as many crates of eggs as we can. The poultry farmers are the ones that are doing business at a loss.”

According to the PANLAG chief, farmers also face pressure from high feed costs because they cannot simply stop feeding their birds when egg demand falls.

“At their best, they must take the quantity of feed per day. Otherwise, they will stop laying eggs. If you are assigning the feed for them and they stop laying, that’s a complete loss for the farmer. So rather, we need to be giving them feed, let them be producing,” he said.

Meanwhile, the President of the Nigeria Agribusiness Group, Kabir Ibrahim, said weak purchasing power had worsened the food crisis despite the fall in demand.

“Low demand due to low purchasing power of food items should ordinarily cause deflation, but in Nigeria we see inflation. How ironic!” he said.

Ibrahim also blamed high agricultural input costs for weakening farmers’ incentives, saying the zero-tariff importation policy on selected food items between July and December 2024 contributed to farmer apathy.

“Between July and December 2024, Nigeria opened a zero-tariff importation of four food items which caused farmer apathy or even lethargy because, surprisingly, agricultural inputs across the board became terribly expensive, especially fertilisers,” he said.

The former President of All Farmers Association of Nigeria urged the government to prioritise agriculture, agribusiness and security to address the country’s food supply challenges.

“Broadly speaking, we must give priority to investment in Agriculture, Agribusiness as well as physical security far more than other sectors of Nigeria’s development,” Ibrahim concluded.