Health concerns, supermarket sales increase poultry production by 20%

Growing health concerns with the smuggled imported poultry meat has led to about 20 percent increase in the last one year of the locally produced ones sold by supermarkets.

The poultry meat mainly chicken, sold by these modern shops, in raw or smoked form are supplied directly or through distributors by big agro companies such as Chi Limited, which have large farms and complementary processing units. The ready-to-cook form of chickens, decent packaging, good preservation through continuous freezing, which supermarkets have the capacity to provide, and the hygienic environment of these retail shops are driving the sales in spite of the higher prices. Smuggled imported frozen whole chicken for instance is sold for about N700 to N1,200, depending on the size, while the locally produced frozen chicken could get sold for as high N1,650 or more in the supermarket.

This however is not deterring the professionals and high net-worth individuals who now have a habit of shopping for food in the supermarkets due to the assurance of hygiene.

This current growth was envisaged by the Nigeria Agribusiness Report in its third quarter 2011 report which predicted that between 2012 to 2015, due to rising living standards and expanding population, there would be a 23 percent growth in the poultry industry. The prediction was based on the increased government support, improved farming techniques based on new researches and increasing demand for poultry meat.

This increased demand for wholesome poultry meat by the middle-class has been spurring business expansion among existing poultry producers, and also stimulating new investments from very wealthy investors and youths.

Though there have been crisis in the industry due to insecurity challenges in the North that led to lower demand for eggs from that part of the country, the growing middle-class, their changing tastes and health concerns have spurred demand in the Southern parts. Chickens and eggs are even being branded by the producers as an assurance of quality.

Quail farming, another form of poultry, a bird adjudged by health experts to be very beneficial health-wise as it is highly nutritious and does not contain cholesterol, is adding to the boom in the industry.

Also, the Nigeria Customs Service in response to outcries of stakeholders and the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Agriculture has also increased the interception and destruction of smuggled poultry products.

Dotun Agbojo, president of PANLAG, recently in Lagos, said between the beginning of the year to date, the customs had seized over N500 million worth of poultry products from smugglers, urging the service to intensify the efforts. He drew attention to the health hazards, stating that smugglers go as far as hiding poultry meat in fuel tankers. The Nigeria Customs Service and other stakeholders have also at various times pointed out the health hazards in consumption of smuggled poultry meat.

A representative of the National Agency for Food, Drug, Administration and Control (NAFDAC), I. Sanni, during a recent poultry show held in Lagos, noted that the cold chain was usually broken during the transportation of the imported poultry meat. At such times, microbes begin to work on the meat. Subsequently, they may be kept in freezers again if they make it to the Nigerian market, but they expose unsuspecting buyers to the health hazards.

Kola Oyedeji, a chemist and farmer, said the smuggled poultry meat were usually preserved from spoilage with formaldehyde, the same chemical used in the mortuary to preserve corpse, thereby exposing consumers to carcinogenic substances, which predisposes people to cancer.

There are however still a lot of challenges experienced by producers in the country, such as high cost of input and infrastructure challenges. But the domestic poultry industry as predicted by a 2011 Nigeria Agribusiness Report is growing.

Onallo Akpa, an executive of Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN), estimated commercial production at N51.2 billion ($3.2bn) and rural family production at N320 billion with 553,000 metric tons of eggs and 708,000 metric tons of broiler meat being produced as of 2011.

OLUYINKA ALAWODE