Manufacturers of fruit juice and poultry feeds in Nigeria have decried the shortage of raw fruits, saying it may affect the production of juice and poultry feeds.
The Factory Manager, CICI Beverage Manufacturing Company, Mr. Dele Adeoye, who described the industry as a lucrative one, explained that the major challenge being faced by producers of fruit drinks in Nigeria was the shortage of raw fruit material.
He said, “The shortage of these materials is as a result of non-availability of storage facilities to farmers. In Nigeria, our storage facility is very bad. Using Mile 12 as an example, if you go there, you will see a lot of tomatoes wasting.
“Also, when it comes to the era of mango, it will also litter everywhere because there is no storage facility to preserve them. The farmers are producing but at what capacity can they store? This resulted in difficulty in getting these raw fruit materials for production and sometimes, the ones you get might not be what you want; some of them might be decayed while some are not good for consumption.”
Another stakeholder and the Project Director, ‘Cassava: Adding Value for Africa Phase II Project’, Prof. Kolawole Adebayo, also lamented that the country was experiencing a critical shortage and that there was inadequate production to meet national requirements for the coming
season.
According to him, Soya bean shortage is threatening the viability of poultry and it is one of the critical components in the production of stock feed.
He said, “The shortage will affect the cost of cooking oil, stockfeeds, chicken and other poultry meats, pork and commercially grown fish, hence the need to urgently address this to reduce imports.
“Soya bean has not been grown because most farmers don’t have financiers and enough funding. Incentives to encourage soya beans are needed for the sector and the government needs to focus on programmes that would increase the hectarage under soya
bean.”
The Coordinator, Natnu Preneur Broiler Outgrower Scheme, Mr. Gbolade Adewole, said poultry producers had borne the brunt of shortages of soya beans in the market.
He said if the soya bean shortage persisted, the company might be forced to reduce production.
According to him, there has been shortage of key raw materials like soya beans and soya bean meal because they are
imported.
Adewole said, “There is the need to rehabilitate and upgrade both silo and bagged depots to ensure safe storage of strategic grain reserves. A shortage of soya beans means that the capacity utilisation of seed crushing and extraction plants will reduce.”
