Kano poultry farmers adopt new measures to beat high cost of feed

Kano State poultry farmers have adopted a new approach of cooperating with smallholder farmers in the production of birds.

Weekend Trust gathered that chicken farmers, particularly those who work in hatcheries directly or indirectly, sell day-old chicks to smallholders and then purchase the chicks back after two or three weeks to complete the production cycle.

The new synergy enables shared breeding demand at a lower cost to both parties.

According to a poultry farmer in the state, Malam Shehu Caji, the adoption of the technique became necessary for the business to remain afloat due to the high cost of feed being experienced nation-wide.

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He said a 25kg bag of starter poultry feed is now N20,700 as against less than N10,000 which it sold for late last year.

“The technique is a child of necessity because the poultry business is dying slowly and believe it or not, the sector is considered dead by some practitioners because they have already closed down their farms. However, this new method allows for shared responsibility in chicken breeding with moderate expenditure being shared. You buy a day-old chick, breed for two or three weeks and then take it back to the place you bought them and they will buy from you to continue the cycle. This is the practice now and from indications, it is sustaining the sector,” he said.

Our correspondent gathered that a large number of small-scale chicken producers have adopted the new method and are already benefiting from it.

Malama Sha’awa Shu’aibu, a small-scale poultry farmer in Gezawa Local Government Area, said she has been using the new approach since it came into practice and as a result, she was able to revive her business.

Also, it was learned that many poultry farmers have returned to rearing birds in their backyards as a result of high cost of feed and the shutdown of poultry farms.

It was discovered that raising local breeds of chicken is less risky and more affordable.

According to Halliru Bashir, a poultry farmer who reverted to the local breed, feeding them is cheaper though the breed takes a longer period to mature.

“To be honest, breeding local chicken is more rewarding than keeping the layers and broilers. There’s no fear of the high cost of chicks or high cost of feed because feeding the local breed is nothing compared to feeding the layers and broilers. With this discovery, I have revived my poultry farm but this time around with local breeds, I prepare their feed and I have less risk managing them. This trend is gradually gaining acceptability in this state, the only issue is that it takes more time than the other breed,” he revealed.

It would be recalled that many poultry farms in the state have closed down due to the high cost of poultry feed, day-old chicks, among other poultry inputs.