Poultry farmers explore options as cost of feed rises

The country’s recent inflation is having a negative impact on small-scale poultry farmers across the country.

Inflation has driven prices of feed out of reach for many farmers, causing them to close their farms, while the ones that remain are operating below their full capacity.

During a recent visit to Delta State, Weekend Trust spoke with a number of smallholder poultry farmers about their experiences operating in the current economic climate.

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Mr Omosigho Benson is a poultry farmer who works as a desk officer for the federal government and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) Livelihood Improvement Family Enterprises Project for the Niger Delta (LIFE-ND)-assisted farmers in the Oza-Nagogo community of Ika South Local Government Area. He discussed how inflation has affected them and how farmers are coping with the issues.

“Actually, the problem with the naira is, I’ll call it, a minus to us, the farmers,” he stated.

“We are experiencing hyperinflation, where it takes the grace for a farmer to succeed. Outside the grace, you need experience, and that’s the experience we gather—the knowledge we have—that’s what we share with our fellow farmers and especially our incubatees,” he added.

In order to remain in the business, the farmer explained that the key to survival is having a solid knowledge and understanding of the industry and liaising with other farmers.

“The first thing is to get adequate knowledge on what is happening in your environment because it’s been said that information is power, and you also know the leading innovations pertaining to agriculture because when you know leading innovation, that’s where you can navigate in the challenges within your environment.

“You can’t keep doing the old things or having the old practices in this modern-day farming. Like now, we know that there are a lot of challenges in inputs but we can’t sit down and remain hungry because there’s a high cost of inputs.

“The farmer must navigate because the farmer must feed and must find a way out. And that’s why, as a desk officer, after sharing the knowledge with them, you ensure the practice themselves. Periodically, sometimes I do what we call a demo sampling for them, for us to have a basic knowledge.

“We call it do-it-yourself; you do it, you gain knowledge, you know, and you practicalise it. And we also share this information with farmers who are complaining that they are not making progress.

“So, we encourage them, having gotten the adequate knowledge from their training centres during their mentorship stage, to target the right time because farming is all about doing the right thing at the right time,” he said.

In order to lower production costs and maintain their operations, the farmers have also learnt when and how to get feed at competitive prices.

Mr Benson said he encourages the farmers to “get their birds from very good sources at good prices, not minding the number of birds, but they must stay in business. And staying in business, even when they don’t have enough quantity, like the birds, they don’t have enough numbers. If it is 100, you are stocking, do the 100 with good management practice.”

“When you have good management practices and every right thing put in place, you will definitely have a good yield. When you have good yield, you also make profit, and when you are making profit always, keep records.

“As a desk officer, I always emphasise record-keeping because the only way you can determine whether you are making progress is when you have checked all through your records and net off your expenditures from your income, you now know what the net profit is. And when you have that, you can now use the profit. But you can’t consume it all but you have to reinvest. You have to also target the market knowing that there is hyperinflation.

“Like DOCs (Day-old-chicks) that are sold today, sometimes over N90,000 per carton, which contains 50 chicks. Sometimes we normally make calls to the companies trying to know if it will go down or if it will go up. In addition, sometimes, if there is a signal that it will definitely come down within a period, you just go slower. These are what we have been practicing in this local government,” he said.

Mercy Uzakpolor is a LIFE-ND-assisted farmer who raises layers and broilers also in the Oza-Nagogo community. However, she is having trouble growing because of inflation, which makes it more challenging as input costs skyrocket.

She began as an incubatee and then received 50 bags of feed and 500 boilers, marking the beginning of her chicken-producing career in 2022.

She has completed roughly eight cycles, but she is currently going through challenging times as rising production expenses are caused by feed increases and inflation.

The hairdresser-trained poultry farmer said inflation, which has pushed feed prices to N25,000, is making life difficult for many farmers like her.

She is however considering blending the feed herself if she gets the necessary expertise.

Gospel Enabulele who is a graduate of accounting also explained how frustrated he was for years after graduating from school before becoming a poultry farmer through the LIFE-ND programme.

“I studied accounting, but there was no job. I was into subsistence farming with our parents. I utilised the opportunity when I had access to the form, and I applied after I received information from those who have graduated from the LIFE-ND training before me, and I was among the successful young people, and then went for training under an incubator on poultry business,” he said.

However, the inflation-driven working environment compels him to reduce output due to feed expenses. He adds that the business has improved his financial situation if not for inflation and that he hopes to increase output when the economy recovers.

Since there is always a market for eggs, Mr Enabulele stated that he looks forward to growing his poultry farming sooner than later. They are collaborating as a group to look into different ways to get feed at a lower cost in order to stay in business.