Poultry Farmers Decry Declining Market Demand

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Poultry farmers in Bauchi, Gombe and Jigawa states have raised concerns over soaring feed prices and declining market demand, saying the twin challenges are reducing production, eroding profits and forcing some operators to shut down their businesses.

The farmers disclosed this in separate interviews in Bauchi, Dutse and Gombe, explaining that rising costs of feed, vaccines and other essential inputs, coupled with consumers’ declining purchasing power, had made it increasingly difficult to sustain poultry production.

Margret Yohanna, a poultry farmer in Bauchi, said the rising cost of feeding birds had forced her to reduce the number of chicks she raised from 100 to 50 to limit expenses and improve her chances of making a profit.

“The situation reflects the wider difficulties facing poultry farmers, who must balance the rising cost of production against consumers’ ability to pay for poultry products,” she said.

Yohanna said a bag of refined poultry feed now cost between N20,000 and N23,000, while raising a chick from the starter to the finisher stage required about N8,000 in feeding expenses.

She said the combination of expensive inputs and poor market conditions had weakened the appeal of poultry farming as a business.

Another farmer, Aisha Musa, said she had turned to locally processed feed as a cost-saving measure to keep her operation running.

Musa attributed the high prices of poultry products to increased production expenses, noting that low patronage had made it difficult for farmers to recover their investments.

She added that concerns among some consumers about the concentration of chemicals in poultry feed had further dampened demand for poultry products.

In a similar account, Abdulkahar Lawal said the imbalance between production costs and selling prices had placed small-scale poultry operators under severe pressure, forcing some to discontinue their businesses.

“Farmers now consider the cost of raising their birds against prevailing market prices to determine whether they could make a profit,” he said.

Umar Ibrahim also lamented that expenditure on feed, vaccines and other farm inputs was leaving farmers with little or no savings.

He said poultry products were sometimes selling below their production costs, exposing farmers to financial losses.

However, Aliyu Hamza, a poultry feed dealer in Dutse, Jigawa State, said feed prices had declined slightly following a drop in demand.

Hamza said a 25-kilogramme bag of feed now sold for between N20,000 and N22,000, compared with N24,000 previously.

He attributed the reduction to weak patronage, explaining that sales typically increased during Ramadan and the Eid festivities.

The dealer added that the downturn in poultry farming had also affected businesses involved in selling feed and other poultry-related products.

Sunusi Abdu, a member of the Jigawa State Poultry Sellers Association, said his daily chicken sales had fallen from about 150 birds to approximately 60.

“Sales also slowed, leaving some birds unsold for several days,” he said.

Ali Halilu, Chairman of the Chicken Sellers Association in Dutse Local Government Area, also linked the decline in demand to economic hardship, saying it had affected prices of some locally raised chickens.

According to him, the price of a medium-sized local chicken had dropped to N2,500 from N3,000.

In Gombe State, poultry farmers said escalating production costs had driven some operators out of business, with those still operating struggling to earn reasonable returns.

Florence John and Yunua Ibrahim, who have each spent more than five years in poultry farming, said the rising cost of feed and vaccines had undermined the profitability of their operations.

John said several farmers in Yelenguza community had closed their farms because they could no longer afford the cost of feeding their birds.

“Things are really not looking good for poultry farmers in Gombe State because of the high cost of feed and vaccines. Today, around 30 to 40 per cent of poultry farmers in my community have closed their farms because they can no longer sustain the business,” she said.

Ibrahim appealed to federal and state governments to provide loans and grants to help farmers remain in business, noting that poultry production contributed to food security and employment.

“We call for targeted government support, improved access to affordable credit and measures to reduce the cost of poultry production. Supporting local feed production, providing subsidies and improving access to essential inputs will help sustain poultry businesses and protect jobs,” he said.

The farmers called for targeted interventions, including affordable financing, support for local feed manufacturing and subsidies on essential production inputs, warning that continued increases in operating costs could further weaken the poultry industry and threaten jobs across the value chain.

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