Strong seasonal demand for Nigerian poultry

As the festive season approached, Nigerian farmers reported strong demand for their poultry meat, but the sector faces a number of challenges ahead.

(OLEG525 | Bigstock)
(OLEG525 | Bigstock)

As the festive season approached, Nigerian farmers reported strong demand for their poultry meat, but the sector faces a number of challenges ahead.

Despite challenging economic conditions, chicken farmers in the West African state said their birds were selling well in the run-up to Christmas, reported the News Agency of Nigeria.

Two of the farmers interviewed said they could have sold more birds to consumers. One, who raises hens for meat after their egg-producing phase, said that his output had been held back by the general economic situation, but that his customers were attracted the perceived more healthy dietary option of chicken over red meats for the Christmas period. His older birds are preferred over broilers, he said, because they have more flavor.

A second farmer, who rears commercial broilers, called on the government to offer soft loans to producers. This would encourage an expansion in domestic production, she said.

Prices for the farmers held up well ahead of the festive period, but a third producer complained that feed prices also reached a peak at the same time.

According to the report, Nigeria only produces around 30 percent of the country’s total demand for chicken, and that the remaining 70 percent enters the country as illegal imports.

Nigerian agriculture needs to build resistance in order to meet the multiple stressors and sources of changes it is facing, according to Relief Web. Among the factors that the sector faces are a growing population and increased urbanization, combined with climate change, which is already raising temperatures and shifting rainfall patterns.

Working together is seen as a means of solving problems and overcoming these challenges. Examples of successful projects from the poultry sector cited include maintaining genetic diversity of the chicken population in order to retain the greater heat tolerance of native breeds. Another community-wide initiative resulted in the publication of a leaflet describing strategies to increase poultry productivity and reduce bird mortality during periods of extreme heat.

A recent examination of the state of the egg sector in Africa highlighted the issues that need to be overcome for the continent to raise per-capita egg consumption towards the global average.

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