‘The new breed of birds will benefit us in the north’

I’m into small and large animal production like sheep and goats and fattening of cattle and to some extent, I am also into fishery. But largely, I am a poultry farmer.Can you tell us in summary what you are able to benefit from the ongoing poultry exhibition here in Abeokuta?So far so good, I was […]

I’m into small and large animal production like sheep and goats and fattening of cattle and to some extent, I am also into fishery. But largely, I am a poultry farmer.
Can you tell us in summary what you are able to benefit from the ongoing poultry exhibition here in Abeokuta?
So far so good, I was here last year, the same thing I led my delegates from Katsina to this place. We have seen a lot as compared to last year. There are some new technologies and new items introduced by several companies. Some of the items displayed are to the benefit of our people especially from the northern part of the country. These are special breeds of birds that can withstand the harsh weather we are experiencing in the northern part of the country.
 I believe this introduction will help us in no small measure to overcome the problem of excessive heat we are experiencing in the North. I hope these companies that introduced this new breed of birds will make them sufficiently available to our farmers in the northern part of the country. Then there are other items like equipment introduced by one company, which will also help us overcome some of our problems. I am talking about infra red and thermometers, which we can use in our brooder to know the temperature within any of them.
Before now which type of technology were you using for your birds especially when the weather is hot?
Actually, you know the system of farming in our part of the country is open-sided system, that is the windows are open. This is the only system we are using, but the introduction of these things will help us to minimise the excessive heat we are experiencing especially during the heat period.
We understand that some poultry farmers in the North are using the technology that sprinkles water on their chickens especially when the weather is hot. How does that work?
It is working. In fact I have it in my farm, and actually it is helping me a lot. The only thing is that it is expensive. You know poultry business is capital intensive; the same thing with the equipment. But any farmer who can afford that, it will solve half of the problems. So it is effective.
There is a Dutch delegation attending the ongoing poultry show and I understand that they are going into collaboration with your association, in which aspect of poultry are they collaborating with you and how useful do you think they can be to Nigerian farmers?
I don’t have the full details about the collaboration but what I believe is that once there is something like this coming to our association, it is a good omen. In fact it will give us the opportunity to utilise what these people have been enjoying in their countries for our own benefit. If this collaboration works it will help us in great measures. And we hope sooner or later, these things will come to the benefit of our members – the Poultry Association of Nigeria.
Can you tell me how many birds you have in your farm and the problems you are encountering in the process of keeping them, because some people are already complaining of shortage of soya beans?
Actually I don’t have much, but presently I have about 12,000 to 15,000 birds; majority are in laying stage and others are just growers. On the second part of the question, the problems are many. We are facing a lot of challenges. I don’t know which one to start with, but to be frank with you we are facing a lot of problems especially the issue of soya beans you mentioned. Soya beans are not readily available nationwide and due to that, the prices of feeds and concentrates have skyrocketed and are not even readily available especially the concentrate. So these things are affecting us seriously.
Do you have easy access to medication for your birds?
Yes. We have a lot of veterinary stalls in Katsina State. So medication is not a problem per se but our major problem as I mentioned is the feed and concentrates with regard to feeding. Another problem is the source of funds for our medium and large scale farmers. Then the issues of members not being able to access these funds either from government or commercial banks – very few of our members were able to access the facilities.
What about marketing of your birds and eggs, do you have access to bulk buyers?
So far so good, we don’t have much problem when it comes to marketing of our products. At times during festivities like fasting period and Sallah we actually have good market for our product. At times when there is glut for eggs, our neighbours from Niger Republic do come to purchase our products. So the problem is not much. So there is awareness. With regard to broilers, actually there is a lot of market in Katsina because a lot of people are into frozen and fried broilers. So in that regard we don’t have much problem there as well.
What is the relationship between the Katsina poultry farmers and the research institute in Zaria and other places; do you patronise their research technologies?
Our relationship is cordial. Some of our members do actually patronise them. Once you are a member of an association, you are free to purchase from anywhere you want. Some purchase from NAPRI, some in other places. It depends on your choice.
From the poultry items exhibited, have you found anything interesting that you wish to have in your farm, which will be useful to farmers in the North?
Of course, yes.
Like what?
Like the new breed of birds I mentioned earlier. This breed I believe will help us in solving our problem especially during the heat period. It is white in colour and produces brown eggs. As we all know, white colour doesn’t attract heat, it resists heat unlike black and other colours. We hope it will be handy to our members and other intending poultry farmers.
Do you think it will adapt to the weather over there?
That is what we are praying for, because based on the colour, it will help us in reducing the problems we are facing over there.
Compared to Shika Brown, which one do you think is better for your farm?
Personally I have not tried Shika Brown, so I don’t have statistics of its performance but of recent one of our members purchased (Shika Brown) and we are following it to see. For this one, it a new product, so I cannot say precisely how it will adapt to our weather. We are hoping that it will give good benefit to our people there.
Generally, how will you describe the assistance coming from government to poultry farmers in Katsina State?
If it comes, it will help in upgrading our status as poultry farmers but we are yet to receive any grant from the government.
You mean state or federal government?
From all the three tiers of government – local, state and federal. Very few of our members were able to acquire such facility from a bank.
These bank loans you are talking about, at what interest rate are they giving you, single digit interest rate or up to 12%, 13%?
I have not accessed it, so I cannot say anything precisely concerning these bank loans. If it is true as they told us, we went to so many banks – we were at UBA, Union Bank, First Bank, to an extend we are now talking with one community bank in Katsina. But all the same, till this time none of our members has been able to access these funds.
What could be the problem? Are they asking for collaterals or the conditions are not favourable?
Actually the conditions as stipulated are not favourable. And if you fulfill the conditions, at the end of the day it is not easy for somebody to access such facility. We have tried severally and it was a failure. I spent more than N350,000 to access the commercial agric loan, but at the end of the day, I did not get it.