NIGERIA – The federal government of Nigeria through the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has launched a new scheme aimed to boost egg production in the country.
The National Egg Production (NEGPRO) scheme, expected to run for 5 years, is aimed to strengthen the country’s poultry sector by creating awareness on utilization of the country’s production capacity, marketing and promote economic development.
It is set to equally focus on stakeholders’ engagement towards piloting, facilitating and coordinating activities within the value chain.
According to reports by the Guardian Nigeria, the initiative is set to realise production of at least 500,000 table eggs daily for local consumption, export and processing into egg powder for use in the confectionery and pharmaceutical industry.
A resent report by the Consulate General Lagos indicates that Nigeria has the 2nd largest chicken population in Africa, with about 180 million birds placed annually.
The West African nation is the largest producer of eggs in the region, having registered 640,000 tonnes in 2019 and expected to reach 947 thousand tons by 2030.
The consumption per capita of eggs in the country is about 3.5kg, significantly lower than the world’s averages of 9.4kg.
However, the consumption rate is set to rise with increase in production quantities and improved incomes.
The Nigerian egg sub-sector has also recently registered increased investments in both production and processing, in a bid to enhance availability in the market.
Sunshine Food Processing Concept broke ground for construction of N4.2 billion (US$10.8m) egg processing factory at Ondo State mid last year.
The company, majority owned by the state government, will undertake egg processing to produce egg powder, pasteurised liquid eggs. The shells will be utilized for manufacturing of poultry feeds.
Having a processing capacity of 500,000 eggs per day, the factory will create a ready market for local poultry farmers.
The project is jointly funded by the state government which owns 55 percent stake and the Imperial Capital which has 45 percent stake.
The state government is planning to sell its shares when the company becomes fully operational, noting that it was not in the business of running an enterprise.
The Nigerian poultry industry has been resilient despite facing a myriad of challenges to include shortage of feeds, smuggling of poultry products into the country from neighbouring entities, among others.
Just as egg production rate is set to register growth in the near future, so will the poultry meat subsector attain a growth from 239,947 tonnes registered in 2019 to 544,000 tons by 2030.
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