A’Ibom farmers lament scarcity of day-old chicks

Akpan Umoh

Poultry farmers in Akwa Ibom State have lamented scarcity of day-old-chicks in spite of the existence of Akwa Prime Hatchery and Poultry Limited with the capacity to produce day old chicks 200,000 per week.

Speaking to some of the poultry farmers, they expressed frustration over the logistics challenges they face in the course of bringing day-old-chicks from outside the state.

They said unlike what are obtainable in Kaduna, Enugu, and Ibadan, the hatchery in the state inaugurated in 2016, is lying fallow.

One of the poultry farmers, Mr Ekot Akpan, told newsmen that poultry farmers in Akwa Ibom had not had it so bad.

Akpan, who has been in the poultry farm business in the last 12 years, said 2020 has been so bad.

“For the 12 years that I have been in poultry farming, this is the first time that poultry farmers have been so harshly affected by both economic and noneconomic factors. And, quite unfortunately, nobody is available to offer any explanation.

“Farmers have been left at the whims and caprices of owners of the means of production.

“There seems to be no government regulation of the poultry industry. How do you explain a situation where you wake up suddenly and the price of a day old chick is selling for N600, a bag of feed goes up as high as N6,000.

“And, this is happening in a state that government claims to be pursuing agriculture as one of its cardinal programmes.

“For instance, in 2016, the state government said it has constructed an hatchery, and the intention according to the government was to ensure availability of day old chicks at affordable price to farmers, but, quite, unfortunately, that effort has not yielded any tangible result.

“Farmers are still getting their day old chicks from Ibadan, Kaduna, and Enugu. So, the question now is where is the hatchery?

“One would have expected that farmers would be buying day old chicks at humane prices, but, from all indications they acclaim hatchery is a ruse. So, which one is the Akwa Prime Hatchery producing,” he said.

Mrs Eno Ukpong, expressed displeasure over the number of casualties she recorded from the last day-old-chicks she ordered from Ibadan.

She was excited just like other farmers about the idea of establishing an hatchery in the state, but such hope has been dashed as there were no chicks for many years after inauguration.

Our correspondents, who visited the hatchery at Mbiaya in Uruan Local Government Area, observed that activities were as if nothing was happening, as there was no sign of business going on in the sprawling complex even as the road leading to the hatchery has been impassable for commuters.

Management of the company denied newsmen access into the company even as locals confided in correspondents that only the poultry section is functional and not even at full capacity.

An employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to address the newsmen, said though ‘’we do not have day old chicks at the moment, we have frozen chickens in sufficient quantities.’’

Many respondents have reasons to attack the sudden change in plan on the multibillion naira initiated by governor Udom Emmanuel as part of efforts for food sufficiency and to curb the plight of poultry farmers in the state.

The Managing Director of the poultry company, Dr. Samuel Yakubu, had last years reportedly pledged to meet public demands by raising well over 200,000 broilers and 50,000 laying stock birds.

Several calls and text messages sent to the Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Glory Edet, for her reaction on the issue, were not responded to as at press time.