The poultry industry is the most commercialized and fastest growing segment in the animal husbandry subsector of Nigeria agriculture, but Nigeria is currently spending over $2 billion annually on imported frozen meat, consumes 1.5 million tones of chicken annually but produces only 30% of the consumption while 70% of the chickens that we consume are imported.
There is still a lot that need to be done in the poultry market in Nigeria to drive more production to curb the importation of frozen chicken in to the country, which in turn would impact positively on the economy through the agricultural sector.
The livestock farming over the years has proven its ability to contribute to the GDP of the economy and create several doors for employment for youths and women.
Anyone can engage in poultry business, it doesn’t matter your education background nor how rich you are, you can start at any level and grow as big as you want with time. The most important thing is that you are interested in starting somewhere.
A housewife, Hajiya Hassana Idris, said that she smiled to the bank with N450,000 monthly from poultry farming business.
She also described poultry farming as the ideal business for women, because of its short gestation period and the potential to generate over a million naira in a month.
According to her, chickens grow very fast, unlike goats and other livestock businesses that take two to three years to mature. “Poultry farming is a goldmine because layers start laying eggs within 28 weeks, meaning you get turnover of investment in just seven months and turnover from broilers in just four months.
“I started with 50 birds in an uncompleted building and now I have 1,500 birds in modern facilities, and I get at least 50 creates of eggs daily,“ she said. She said that with 50 crates daily, selling at N850 per crate, the business had the potential of generating N42,000 per day and N1.3 million in a month.
“But due to demand fluctuations in the market, I currently make an average sale of 17 crates per day, thereby making N15,000 daily and N450,000 in a month. This is a good deal.”
She said that house wives, including working class women, could start a poultry business to support their husbands and family to meet up with increasing financial needs. She, however, said that poultry farming required effective management skills for better yield and returns on investment.
Profit potential in poultry business.
1. Chicken do reproduce fast and in large numbers – Average healthy Layer lays egg almost everyday or at least 4 times in a week. Some Breeds can lay as much as 325 eggs in a year and take 21 days to hatch. This means that technically a Layer is capable of producing another chicken twice in three days.
So, if you have 500 healthy layers of good breeds (such as California white) they are capable of reproducing a whooping 12,000 chicks within 40 days!
2. Chicken grows very fast – Within 21 days, the egg is hatched and within 28 weeks, they are ready for the market. That means a farmer could start making his money in just 34 weeks after successfully setting up his farm and whatever returns he make could be doubled in a year based on this calculation.
3. Chicken sells at a very good price – A fully grown healthy chicken sells between 2,000 to 2,500 naira in Nigeria. Therefore, if you produce 12,000 chickens in your farm, you will be making N24 million by the time they are completely sold.
4. Egg market in Large too – Apart from the chicken, the egg is another money of it’s own. A crate of eggs sells for N500 – N550 for smaller eggs and N600 – N650 for bigger ones. Each crate contains 30 eggs. Therefore, if you have 500 layers that produces 12,000 pullet in a month and decides to sell all, you will be making N200,000 to N260,000 monthly.
As you can see, the profit in poultry business is mouth watering and the turn over time is fantastic as well, but the big question now is how to start.
What Your Poultry Business Plan Should Look Like
Draw out your effective business plan. Poultry business plan is like a road map leading you to where you are going in you business. It will help you know where you are at any point in time. Hence your business plan should include:
1. Type of Bird you want to concentrate on – Here you choose Chickens (Layers and Broilers). We choose chicken because that’s what this article focuses on. There are other types of birds that are good for livestock business too, such as Goose, Duck, Turkey, etc.
2. Write down your area of interest – You can’t just be in all aspect of poultry farming. You have to choose your area of interest where you would like to concentrate your business. This will ensure high level of focus and professionalism. If you can do two area, no problem. Below are some of the major Niches in Poultry Farming
Layers Breeding which is egg production by Layers
Broilers breeding which referrers to the chicken meat production by Broilers
Hatchery which has to do with breeding chicken for the purpose of Hatching new chicks
Poultry feed which is producing feeds for other poultry farmers
You may choose to Breed Layers and Broilers at a time or one of them. Hatchery is better done independently just like feed production. So, you choose your area of focus
3. Sort out Location – This has a direct effect to your startup cost. A location in a very remote rural area will cost far less than the one close to the urban area. Remote rural area with good road is the ideal location as you will be free from regulatory agencies and drive down the cost of labor too.
As a new person to Livestock business, you don’t want to invest all your capital into buying lands in urban area which may turn out not being used because Government policy is against setting up poultry farm near residential/urban areas for health implication.
4. Investment Capital – With location in mind, you now have clearer idea of the capital required of you. Write down your detailed capital and investment requirements and set to source it.
Like every other farming projects, the bigger you plan to start, the more investment required. You need to decide on the level of capital investment you are willing to commit into this business before starting.
(a) Small scale Chicken Rearing (of about 50 birds) kept in cages at the backyard of your resident will take about N70,000 to start.
(b) A medium scale poultry farming that requires land and housing and other materials in 1 – 2 plots of Land takes about N500,000 to N5 Million to start.
(c) Large scale or Intensive poultry farming that requires high level of sophistication and more careful planning and professionalism, using advance Livestock farming techniques takes from N10 Million.
With your business plan in place, the next is to proceed to setting up your farm without delay!
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