lockdown imposed by federal and state governments to control the spread of the coronavirus has created a supply glut in the poultry products market.
This is similar to the happenings in the global crude oil market where movement restrictions and factory closures have led supply exceeding demand and a decline in oil prices.
Although farmers are exempt from movement restrictions imposed by the government, restaurants and hotels are not buying as much as they used to.
Poultry farmers in Lagos, Ogun, Oyo and Zamfara who spoke to TheCable said they are willing selloff and forgo profit rather than incur more costs.
Farmers now blast freeze chicken while waiting for buyers
BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND DEEP SEA
Kazeem Oguntade, who owns GASKAS Farms in Sagamu, says farmers have found themselves in a risky situation.
They can’t sack farmworkers because they need help with caring for the animals, they can’t stop feeding the animals because they need them to be in good condition for eventual sale and they might have to forgo profit to avoid incurring extra cost.
Oguntade’s farm has a capacity of 4,000 layers in battery cage and an additional 2,000 broiler birds.
“We are incurring extra costs of feeding broilers because of lack of off-takers at optimum value – that is when they have attained a specific weight, usually average of 2kg per bird,” he told TheCable in an interview.
“We sold our last set of broilers at just a little over 550 per Kg, which we should have sold for a minimum of 650 normally. All eateries and stores that would have bought chicken are closed right now.”
WHEN OFF-TAKERS ‘TAKE OFF’
Olumide Odukoya, the owner of a 3,000-capacity farm in Ijebu Mushin, Ogun state, says the situation is critical.
She told TheCable that an off-taker who had already made 30% down payment for 1,000 broilers has not shown up and the birds are consuming N24,500 worth of feed daily.
“Also, the 2,000 layer birds have been consuming N30,000 worth of feeds daily and laying between 50 to 56 crates daily and we’ve been struggling to sell at N700 per crate when the normal price is between N850 and N950 per crate.”
Sulaimon, who has a 5,000-capacity farm in Oyo, told TheCable that he is incurring costs daily to feed 3,000 point-of-lay birds that are still on his farm because no one is willing to take them off his hands.
While he would normally sell the birds at 12 weeks old for N1,200, they are now 16 weeks old and he says he is willing to sell at N1,150.
A poultry farmer in Zamfara who spoke to TheCable anonymously said delivering products to other states have been a problem because of curfews and travel restrictions.
“Sincerely speaking, we don’t have much problem with the law enforcement agencies in terms of making delivery since our product is within the purview of food essentials exempted from the lockdown,” he said.
“However, in terms of buying hybrid feeds, there’s a bit of challenge since we’re largely purchasing from other states which are currently on lockdown.”
He said farmers have had to devise other means to get feed.
SOCIAL MEDIA TO THE RESCUE
To help bridge the trader-customer gap, some farmers are using their social media accounts to spread the word.
Oyinkanola Mayowa, owner of QM Farms in Ogbomosho, also created a Twitter threadencouraging farmers to state available products in order to link them with customers.
Speaking with TheCable, he said estimated the loss to be in millions of naira.
“I get approached on issues like this daily on all social media platforms, there’s a 34,000 crate of eggs lying fallow in Oyo town which they are ready to sell for 550/crate to ensure break-even. This is the same case in Lagos and it’s suburban with a large chunk of chickens blast froze with no buyer or help from the government,” he said.
He urged that the government include products from these farmers in palliative/Ramadan packages and allow the free interstate movement of farm products to enable farmers to reach a wider market. (The Cable)
