Poultry industry grows by 31% in 3 years

The commercial poultry industry and allied businesses supporting the industrial sector of Nigeria’s economy have grown by 31 percent between 2011 and 2014, BusinessDay investigations have shown.

Apart from eggs and poultry meat production, commercial poultry industry which includes feed-milling, equipment, hatcheries, veterinary products, services and haulage contributed N288 billion or 13 percent to the growth raising its contribution from about N640 billion before 2011 to N928 billion before the bird flu outbreak in January 2015.

Further investigations show that increased consumption and utilisation of the products by the emerging middle class was responsible for the sustained growth.

Analysts are of the view that the development portends brighter future for the subsector in particular and the economy in general as some of the favourable government policies will help to sustain the middle class for the development of the economy.

This growth trajectory is based on an average annual growth rate of about 15 percent based on estimates from Ayoola Oduntan, national president of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN).

Oduntan said, however, that the 15 percent annual growth rate falls short of the minimum 20 percent annual growth rate predicted in the 2011 publication of the Nigeria Agribusiness Report which stated that the poultry industry would grow by about 23 percent annually between 2011 and 2015.

Last report on the worth of the poultry industry given by the National Office of the Poultry Association of Nigeria estimated commercial production at $3.2 billion, which was about N640 billion at the rate of N200 to a dollar. The average 15 percent annual growth culminated to N288 billion for 2012, 2013 and 2014, and main when added to the industry worth in 2011, shows that the industry has grown to over N900 billion.

Oduntan attested to the fact that poultry eggs and broiler (meat) production have gone up within the period, but noted that the industry had also faced numerous challenges such as high cost of inputs and stiff competition from cheaper imported frozen chicken and turkeys.

Also speaking on the factors that brought down the average annual growth rate especially in 2014, Sunday Adeyooye of the Sun Ados Farm, said terrorism in the northern part of the country affected demand.

“Most of the eggs produced in the South West are sold in the northern part of the country, but the high incidence of terrorism has led to low purchasing power and lower demand for eggs,” he said.

Afioluwa Mogaji of X-ray Farm Consulting attested to the fact that some poultry farms in the South West closed shop as a result of this.