Poultry farming/production includes raising of all those
domestic birds for so many purposes which would include research, raw
materials, games and above all food. The birds referred to as poultry include
Turkey, Quail, Ducks, Geese, and chickens.
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| 8weeks old birds |
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| Broiler birds eating |
Though, when you mention poultry, the first thing that comes to the mind of majority of the people is chickens and turkeys alone.
Poultry production industry remains one of the oldest agro-industry with scavenging fowls (gallus gallus) as its origin. It has liberated so many people from poverty. It has proven to be a quick fix to poverty for industrious persons who ventured into it.
Meanwhile, over the past years, people have ventured into poultry production but rushed out the way they rushed in(some of them even before they started). That is because they were not informed.
Before I sing the alluring song of the reasons why you should consider investing in poultry production, let me first hang this caution sign- it’s not all profit( thank God you know every business has its shortcoming).
You might decide to quit even before you had started if you didn’t do the necessary (compulsory if you ask me) consultations about it. You can get that from any professional around you (either practicing Animal scientist or an experienced farmer)
Having shown you the caution sign, let me then open it up for you why you should consider investing in poultry production.
1. Exploitation of unused space/land: Even when you do not have access to your own personal land, you can still lease a space (I did that also). But if you have a land that is not in use that is a major reason you should consider converting it to a poultry farm.
2. Less capital intensive: - Compared to what you stand to achieve/benefit through hard work, it is less capital intensive for SME’s.
3. Access to Agric loans: - When you start up your poultry farm, you become a farmer automatically and stand the chance to access government Agric loans. The loans would even become more available and easier to access very soon.
4. Short generation interval: - Generation interval implies space between successive production and in terms of poultry birds, it is very short. Broilers now mature and ready to eat at just 6weeks of age. This makes synchronization of production easy for the farmer.
5. High dressing percentage:- Dressing percentage is the ratio of the live weight over the carcass weight. It is very high in poultry especially the meat broilers and turkeys. This is as a result of the high feed to flesh conversion rate.
6. Available market: - Poultry production has graduated from a seasonal business to all-year-round business. This is because time has gone when only few families can afford to slaughter chicken all the time while the rest do that 3 times in a year (Christmas, New Year celebration and Easter). You also find either fast-food eatery or bars/pubs/taverns every one kilometre in all the cities now. Hotels are now surpassing the number of churches in the cities. All these are potential customers in the waiting, why still wait?
7. Profit-oriented: - with the high dressing percentage and high demand, it becomes profit-oriented. It is a business that can yield up to 70 percent of the capital as profit when properly managed, ceteris paribus.
8. Improved breeds all the time: - This is one area where poultry industry boasts of improvement. Recently, there so many new hatcheries with improved breeds of parent stock. Both for pullets, broilers and turkeys, there are now so many improved breeds with encouraging traits.
9. Perhaps you might have experienced the harshness of the economy recently as a result of the dwindling oil prices which is not even giving any sign of improvement. The government is now set to look elsewhere to boost the economy of the nation and is prepared to achieve it through Agricultural sector. When that happens, farmers are the ones to get empowered through various Agricultural programmes that would be backed up with government loans.
So, what are you still waiting for?
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