How insurgency paralyses Nigerian poultry industry

The agricultural sector suffered a setback as a result of the insurgency as farmers find it difficult to access their farms in the volatile areas and captured communities, particularly in Adamawa and Borno states. The Chief Operating Officer, Nana Farms Kano, Alhaji Mahammadu Aminu Adamu, lamented the damage done to the poultry industry by the […]

The agricultural sector suffered a setback as a result of the insurgency as farmers find it difficult to access their farms in the volatile areas and captured communities, particularly in Adamawa and Borno states.
The Chief Operating Officer, Nana Farms Kano, Alhaji Mahammadu Aminu Adamu, lamented the damage done to the poultry industry by the insurgents in the North-east.
Adamu, who spoke with Daily Trust at the venue of the concluded 3rd annual summit of the Poultry Association of Nigeria (PAN) in Lagos, recently, stated that some of the displaced people were farmers who were planting soya beans and groundnut for poultry farmers.
He said: “We don’t have soya and groundnut which are major inputs for our industry. If you go to the marketing side, eggs go through the borders in Borno to Cameroon and as far as the Central African Republic, Chad, Niger Republic and others but now with the insurgency, eggs don’t move because the insurgents kill everybody.” 
The head of Nana Farms added: “We have invested so much but you can’t produce. In my farm, for instance, I have six laying houses, three are empty and three are full of chickens and I can tell you that each laying house costs me about N25million. How can I make back my money? The people that are supposed to work in them are not working and that is why I said the insurgency has affected us tremendously, in terms of marketing and raw materials.
“The menace of insurgency hampered the activities of the poultry industry. When the number of bombings and killings intensified, we lost the markets and sources of our raw materials. We used to get fish from Baga but the insurgents went and drowned the fishermen.”
Adamu explained that poultry business requires experience and knowledge, adding that the production may look very simple but its techniques are highly scientific.
Advising interested people who may want to venture into poultry production, he said: “If you want to start poultry business, the first thing you do is to go to the experts for advice because poultry might look simple to the ordinary man but it is very scientific. From the housing, the type of birds you keep and what you feed them with, it’s better to seek advice and share from peoples’ experience, especially those who are in it, the poultry professionals and there are veterinary doctors who guide new entrants into the business. If one cannot afford the private ones, the person can go to the government veterinary centres, they will give you advice.”
On what the poultry production has contributed to the Nigerian economy, he said that the sub-sector is the highest employer of labour outside the government.