Poultry farmers in Nigeria has encountered so many challenges overtime, most of these challenges are some of the reasons many farmers don’t succeed in our country today.
Common challenges affecting poultry farming in Nigeria includes:
Farm Location and Adequate Housing:
Farmers might have issues with farm location and nearness to the market except those running in small scale at their private home, but for most farmer that need to get a space outside their home, it is not the same as many neighbors might complain of the odours coming out of the farm which is as a reason of the fowl droppings. So for large scale farmers, they seek for areas that’s less populated and setup their farm.
Adequate housing and airing of the farm house is also important to avoid stampede and prevent the birds from rain and excess heat from the sun.
Diseases and Parasites
Birds are not human that can call out whenever something is wrong with them, farmers may not know when there’s particular disease in the farm and even they know, they might not know which drug to administer to the poultry birds and this also goes for parasites. Birds must be kept away from parasite or other animal attack. This is because some animal are carriers of diseases and infection and may cause high mortality in birds.
Necessary Information
Having enough information contributes to business growth and development not just poultry, any mistake made in running a business might be hard to correct. One of the mistakes entrepreneurs make is lack of information while some others have wrong information about the business they are venturing into and this may affect the growth or business failure if appropriate care is not taken.
Initial Capital
One of the major challenges poultry business farmer face in Nigeria is capital to set the farm. Setting up a farm or renting one is not as easy as people presume it to be, and one most run a successful farm, capital must be readily available and the growth and development depends solely on the capital invested.
Therefore having access to capital is very important when it comes to poultry business and that’s why most of the farmers turn to micro finance bank and BOI for loans. Even at that, most farmers can’t afford the loan interest rate due to the fact that it makes the business not to grow faster as many wants because the loan taken must be serviced at due time to reduce the interest. For this reason many loose interest in setting up a business while others withdraw completely from it.
Availability of Quality Feed
Sometimes due high demand of feed, it is difficult for farmers to get feeds in the market and this is the reason farmers have the problem of going for a lower quality feed while waiting for the desired feed to arrive at the market. Quality feed helps in the bird’s nutrition, growth, egg production, quick sale of the birds and reduced deficiencies.
Bird’s deficiencies can be as a result of lack of feed or improper feeding, lack of balanced diet which may cause lack of proper vitamins required for their growth. For this reason feeding your birds properly with quality feed is of utmost important.
Vaccines Availability and Affordability
All vaccines must be kept under a cool temperature to avoid them being spoilt or ineffective to the bird’s diseases but due to the fact that electricity in Nigeria can never be trusted and not everyone can afford to keep alternative source of energy running in the farm. For this reason, most farmers don’t ready their vaccine until it’s time to administer the vaccine and this might cause delay in vaccine administration and might lead to death.
Conclusion
Having knowledge of the challenges you encounter as a poultry farmer in Nigeria and solution to it will help prepare you for the journey ahead of you. The above listed challenges a farmer may face in running a poultry farm, however the problems are not meant to discourage you from venturing into the business, rather it is meant to prepare you before time because there are solutions to above mentioned challenges.
Thank you!