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An expert in the poultry agro- business have called on Federal Government to establish poultry farms in the 774 Local government areas across the country as a way to cushion the effects of COVID-19.
The Chairman/Managing Director of Amaibra Services limited (ASL), Mr. Chukwudi Cyril Amadi made this call recently in Lagos, in a special interview with the Editor of Skybirdnews Group, Mr. Charles Nwaoguji, noting that the government could generate N900 million annually, if government could encourage poultry farming to be established in 774 Local government of the country.
Amadi said that apart from the huge amount government would derive from poultry farming , it will also create over 50,000 jobs for our teeming youths who are jobless.
He noted that the benefits of establishing poultry farm in all Local government are numerous, as the birds and the eggs are sources of protein for healthy living.
“We want to call on the Federal government to establish poultry farms in all the 774 Local governments Areas in the country as a way to cushion the effects of COVID-19. Nothing is moving now. Our economy has gone down, the only way out of this for us all Nigerians to go back to farm most especially poultry farm,” he said.
He stated that this pandemic has caused a lot of damages in Nigeria economy, people can no longer afford three square meals a day.
He said that unless government do something urgently about this, it may get to a time, Nigerians might have deficiency in their meals, which may lead to health issues.
“If you go to our hospitals today, you will find out that a lot of Nigerians are dying because of lack of protein in their meals, not because they don’t like to eat proteinous foods but because they can not afford it. Our government must act fast to save the situation,” he added.
In this special interview, he spoke on the challenges facing the poultry farm in Nigeria, how these challenges could be tackled, essence of establishing poultry farm in the 774 local government areas , the benefits of poultry farm and the way forward for the survival of poultry farm, and etc
Excerpt:
Challenges facing poultry in Nigeria
One major challenges facing poultry farmers has to do with feeds for birds. It is difficult some times to get feeding for the birds. Many companies are into production of feeds which do affects the birds.
If you change from one feeds to another, your birds will die, either because of the content of the feeds or the way the companies’ produce their chicks. if you are dealing with one feed you must continue with that one or otherwise, you stand the chance of losing your birds.
So, it is very difficult to change from one feeds to another. Some of them dies because of the production of feeds. This is one of the problem, but if you can produce feeds yourself by buying the raw materials to produce it, it is safer, but capitally intensive .
How to tackle these challenges
The first thing, government should provide us is create enable environment for poultry farming in Nigeria to thrive. Government should provide good raw materials so that we can start producing our feeds here in Nigeria instead of depending on importation.
Most times, we run to Niger State to buy corn to feed the chicks. This is a very big challenge which government must look into if poultry farming will survive in Nigeria. Sometimes, using lorry to carry the products is difficult. Therefore transportation used to be a barrier.
Transportation is another challenge, Our roads are too bad. Transporting our goods from the north or any part of the country is difficult. Let government fix our roads.
.Poultry source of income
Although poultry farming is a process that produces an image of hundreds of small birds crammed into a small cage, unable to move, this is not the industry standard. Intensive agricultural practices are different than unethical ones. Hens begin laying eggs at 16 to 20 weeks, but their production levels begin to decline in 1-2 months. That is why these hens are considered economically unviable and sent for meat products.
Chicken is one of the most consumable meat products in the world today. Eggs and turkey items are also increasing in popularity. When taking a look at the advantages and disadvantages of poultry farming, there is a definite need to balance the requirement for profits and an ongoing food supply with the humane treatment of these birds during their lifetime.
Poultry and in particular chickens is commonly kept by 90–95 percent of the households in the rural areas. The number usually ranges from 2 to 5 hens per family unit. The purpose of raising chickens is to provide protein for the family and sale for cash income. Chickens raising is very popular among rural people because of the small investment and short time to income. However, chickens raising faces many problems and farmers rarely get the benefit that they expect. The constraints of chicken production are diseases, feed and feeding and husbandry practices. In fact, the experience showed that if vaccination was applied against only two of the common diseases farmers could benefit from 60–70 percent of the total chickens hatched in comparison to 20–30 percent without interventions.
Chickens can provide a good source of income to the rural villagers, particularly the poorest families with limited resources like land and capital. Women – and they constitute more than 50 percent of the total adult population – have direct benefit from chicken raising as they are working mainly at home. The income from chickens enables them to buy most of the materials needed for children to go to school. At the same time, chickens also provide protein for the family and high value food at occasional festivities.
The high demand for chicken’s meat is also likely to be related to the shortage of fish supply in the market. The fish population has decreased dramatically in recent years for various reasons like illegal fishing by electricity, fishing during the breeding period, the use of insecticides and the destruction of undated forests. To substitute, the demand has changed to other sources of animal protein and in particular chickens. The demand for chicken meat still varies somehow according to the seasonal fishing activities and festivities.
Our company
Our company – Amaibra services limited are into poultry farming, distribution of golden penny products. We also deals with Oil and gas.
The company supply gases, diesels to companies and individuals that has big generators.
Yes, my company have been into poultry and animal farming for many years now. We have been managing our farm very well. Presently we have rare goats, fish and snail.
My experience so far
We started poultry farming in a small scale at my backyard, but we have grown to be a big farm today. It is now booming, We have bought an hectare of land and build it and have started full poultry farming, which we believe, would become mechanized farming.
What Poultry business Stands for
Poultry business is good, if you are in a site where the road is motorable, your products will sale but if you are in a site that is not accessible you will suffer a lot, because many people will not be able to have access to your products.
Raw materials for the production of feeds can be sourced locally
Yes, the raw materials for the production of feeds can be sourced locally. Corn is one of the major raw materials needed for the production of feeds. But sometimes we don’t see it, it is something seasonal.
Is government getting it right on agricultural policy
Our government is not getting it right on agricultural policy in this country. Change of ministers is one of the problems we having today .
Every two to three years they change ministers, the person will bring his own idea, thinking his own ideas is the best, why it is not the best. Government policy on the agriculture is not working. Government need to do something about it,
They have a very good agenda for agriculture but the people managing it are not handling it well. That is where we have issues.
The thing is that government should give free hands to each state to run their agriculture. At moment, Nigeria does not have good storage facilities to preserve our agricultural produce.
Government should provide warehouse where these products can be preserved and packaged.
Agriculture storage or packaging
For now I have not seen where, there is no rice mill or corn mills storage facilities in any party of the country.
Getting the right chemicals to preserve products are difficult. Government must provide means to make the farmers have access to these chemicals.
Nigeria is very big to have many eggs, is being demanded everywhere, everyday, we need eggs to build up the children’s brains.
Benefits of poultry farming
Most of the birds that you will consider raising as a poultry farmer are domestically-based, which means there is no need for a special import/export license before you can get started with your work. Most households will select a farm or poultry catalogue, choose the species they want to raise, and then pick up their chicks at the local post office when they arrive. Also, it creates employment opportunities on multiple levels.
Because a poultry farm is typically a family business, you can teach your children the benefits of holding down a good job from an early age. They can be actively involved in the care of the poultry, collect the eggs, or even capture the animals as they get shipped off to the local processor. It can provide income as a side hustle while you work a full-time job, or it can be a large-scale commercial enterprise if you have enough capital and land to get your farm started. If you grow large enough, then you can hire people from your community to earn some extra income as well. Commercial poultry farming is also a very profitable business. It is one of the traditional business ventures. Here we will inform you about the benefits of poultry farming business
My advice to incoming investors
My advice to incoming investors is that there are lot of benefits you will derive from Poultry Farming.
Poultry farming business has plenty of benefits. Therefore, many farmers prefer to invest in this business. People generally establish poultry farm for the purpose of producing eggs, meat and generating high revenue from these products. A lot of billions of chickens are raised throughout the world as a good source of food from their eggs and meat, with less capital required.
The main benefit of poultry farming is that, it doesn’t require high capital for starting. You just need basic capital to start raising poultry. Also, most of the poultry birds are not expensive to start raising. Also, it is a self employed business. It does not need big space for starting.
Poultry farming doesn’t need a big space unless you are going to start commercially. You can easily raise some birds on your own backyard with one or numerous coops or cages. Hence, if you are interested in poultry farming, then you can simply do it on your own backyard with few birds for a start, then as the business grows, you buy more birds and add to them
