Price of day-old chicks rises as farmers target Xmas

In Jos, the capital of Plateau State, the price of day-old chicks has risen to N900 per chick as poultry farmers target December when thousands of Nigerians would be demanding for the product to celebrate Christmas and New Year.

It has become a common phenomenon that during every festive period, demand for meat, especially chicken, is high and often resulting to hike in price.

Prior to September this year, the price of day-old chicks of broilers had crashed to N300 per chick because the price of feed was high, a situation that forced poultry farmers to sell their old chickens at low prices as they didn’t have the capacity to rear them. Also, between August and September, farmers reportedly lost millions of naira to the business.

However, as December period is fast approaching, the price of day-old broilers has increased to N900 per chick, as farmers trooped to buy the products ahead of Christmas and New Year period when the demand and price for the chicken will rise.

Aminu Abdullahi, a poultry farmer in Jos said, “Before September this year, there was no market for the chickens. The price of the old chickens dropped because there were no buyers and the price of feeds increased to the level that farmers did not have money to feed their chickens. They had to sell them at a low price. This development subsequently crashed the price of day-old chicks in the market. But now, the price of the chicks has gone up again because there is high demand. Some farmers are targeting December and January period when people will celebrate festivities. Farmers are rushing to pick new ones ahead of December, with the expectation that they would gain more profit after selling,” the farmer said.

Ik Henry, another farmer, said the increase in price of eggs also caused the price of day-old layers to go up as price of one increased from N200 to N600.

The farmer said that before this month, the price of eggs drastically fell from N2,100 to N900 pre crate, adding that farmers had to sell the eggs at a loss because they could not keep the eggs for fear of getting rotten, adding that the development had crashed the price of day-old layers in the markert.

“When the price of eggs went down between July and August this year, the price of layers went down to N200 per one because farmers stopped buying them. They were not able to feed the ones they had at home, let alone the new ones.

“Since the business was not profitable, the farmers had to stop. They were not even thinking of buying new ones. They were battling with the old ones already growing at home. They had to sell the ones they had started growing because they didn’t have the money to buy them feed.

“People lost millions of naira, but now, with hike in the price of eggs, some farmers who can afford it have started buying the layers to grow,” Henry said.

Price of chicken rise again

Farmers said that even before the December period, the price of day-old chickens had started rising again, two months after the price of the birds crashed.

Farmers said that before this period, the price had crashed to N1,000 when many farmers were taking their chickens to market because of their inability to feed them, adding that because many had sold their chickens, the price had risen to N2,000 and N2,500 as the demand for the product was increasing by the day.