Poultry production is the aspect of livestock farming that presents one of the finest opportunities for potential entrepreneurs and investors to make good money within the shortest period of time possible, if well setup and managed.
Currently, Nigeria, Africa biggest economy needs more than a million metric tonnes of poultry products annually to meet local demand. Official figure shows that local farmers are only able to produce about 300,000 metric tonnes, leaving a wide gap of more than 1.2 million metric tonnes.
This has made smuggling of poultry products; especially chicken and turkey a big business for importers of these products.
As a result of this, the government placed ban on the importation of poultry products. But most of the bans placed on poultry products have not been effective and have made no real impact on actual foreign imports.
Imported poultry products, especially chicken and turkey, have been identified as causative agent in Non- Communicable Diseases (NCDs) and antibiotics resistance. Some of these health conditions include hypertension, kidney disease, and cancer.
This has made the demand for fresh chicken products on the increase especially from Nigeria’s middle growing class which constitute about 60 percent of the total population.
According to industry estimates, Nigerian poultry industry is estimated at over N80 billion ($600 million) and is comprised of approximately 165 million birds.
Apart from chicken production, investors and agro entrepreneurs can go into egg production as well.
With the Nigerian population of over 180 million people, the market for poultry eggs is rather un-imaginable. Neighbouring West, East and Northern African Countries also depend on poultry eggs from Nigeria for consumption. This implies that the market is very huge with good return on investment.
Also, with the increasing awareness of Nigerians to improve their nutrition with at least one egg daily and the recent Federal Government School feeding initiative, the market for poultry table eggs is widening on a daily basis.
The cost of setting up a poultry farm depends on the size of the farm and the number of birds intended to start production with. For a poultry investment between 200 and 500 birds, the potential investor requires between two and five million.
The investor has to first identify the aspect of production desired to start with, either egg production or meat production. The next step is to obtain day old chicks from reputable hatcheries.
The small chicks can be either naturally or artificially brooded. If artificially brooded, small chicks must be placed in a separate house from laying chickens and it is necessary to protect the chicks from predators, diseases and cold. This stage of brooding lasts for eight weeks.
In the first four weeks of life, small chicks need to be housed in a brooding box first before transferred to the main pen house.
Birds domestication involves feeding with very good feed, supply of clean water and keeping the farm clean always by way of regular disposal of their wastes, disinfecting the pens and restriction of foreign bodies from entering into the pens.
The essential inputs are feeds and vaccines. Investors are always advised to consult agricultural experts’ and consultants in the process of planning such project.
Josephine Okojie
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