Starting poultry farming in Nigeria means you’ll want to know as much as you can about the poultry industry in Nigeria and worldwide.
This post is written to familiarize you with a few facts that can help you understand the poultry business better
(If after going through these facts you’re still interested in starting a poultry business, you can visit our associates farm for a free practical training on the farm here)
We have associates’ farms in more than 21 states of Nigeria
9 Facts You Should Know While Starting Poultry Farming in Nigeria
- Nigeria’s poultry farming industry is worth 1.6 Trillion Naira
- Nigerians Consume more than 12 Billion eggs per year
- Nigeria Consume about 1.5 Billion Kg of chicken annually
- 70% of Poultry Chicken in Nigeria’s market are imported
- Nigeria is the 4th largest producer of chicken meat in Africa.
- Poultry farming contributes 25% of Nigeria’s agricultural GDP.
- The United States is the world’s leading producer of chicken meat.
- Chicken is the second-most-eaten meat in the world.
- Chickens can experience heart failure (wait for this!)
Nigeria’s poultry farming industry is worth 1.6 Trillion Naira
According to Nigeria’s CBN governor in this 2019 cable publication, Nigeria’s poultry industry is worth 1.6 Trillion Naira.
As of 2019, there were about 165 million chickens in Nigeria and they produced approximately 650,000 metric tonnes and 300,00MT of eggs and meat altogether, which made the total value of the poultry industry in Nigeria 1.6 Trillion Naira.
Nigerians Consume more than 12 Billion eggs per year
At first, 12 billion eggs seems like a whole lot, but when you break the figure down, the average Nigerian actually consumes only about 60 eggs (or 2.80 kg of eggs), as of 2020, according to Helgilibrary
Compare to the United States; an average American consumed 277.5 eggs each year according to this Statista publication.
That means the U.S is consuming more than 97 Billion eggs each year
According to a 2023 CNBC publication, egg production alone is a $10 Billion industry in the U.S. with nearly 13% growth annually in profit from 2017 to 2022.
What does this tell you, if you’re planning to start a poultry farming business in Nigeria?
Well, people eat a lot of eggs because it’s probably the easiest source of protein for ordinary people.
This however doesn’t mean that a million people are already waiting to buy your chicken or eggs.
Like every other business, you’ll only succeed if you have adequate knowledge and the secrets of the trade.
(You can visit our associates farms to learn from our experienced farmers and improve your chances of success through our Free practical training on the farm here)
Nigeria Consume about 1.5 Billion Kg of chicken annually
According to this 2017 publication by the Guardian, Nigerians consume about 1.5 million tons of chicken annually.
That translates into 1.5 Billion kg.
But don’t get excited with this stat yet if you’re planning to start poultry farming in Nigeria because…
Stats like this often include all the chicken eaten in Nigeria every year.
What that means is that half of this number may be from people like my mother (who always rears chicken), so she’s not really your customer as a poultry farmer.
There’s another thing to put into consideration…
70% of Poultry Chicken in Nigeria’s market are imported
According to this The Sun publication of 2019, Nigeria spends $3bn every year importing poultry birds.
The source I quoted earlier in The Guardian estimated that only about 30% of the chicken eaten in Nigeria is produced locally.
Most of the chicken we eat is smuggled from neighboring countries while many are imported legitimately.
This deficiency in the local demand for poultry birds and our ability to meet those demands is an opportunity for innovative farmers.
But at the same time, it comes with a lot of challenges.
For example, chickens are not just being imported to Nigeria for nothing, we imported them because imported chickens are cheaper than locally made ones.
But imported chickens are not safe too… which makes them more expensive when they cause cancer or other diseases.
At the end of the day, the next generation of poultry farmers in Nigeria needs to come up with an innovation that could reduce the cost of running a poultry farm, hence, increasing the ability of the stingy Nigerian housewives to buy made in Nigeria chicken (LOL)
Nigeria is the 4th largest producer of chicken meat in Africa
In 2019, the governor of the central bank of Nigeria revealed that the population of chickens in Nigeria was about 165 million producing 650,000 metric tonnes of meat.
A year later in 2020, this report showed that the number of chickens that were produced in Nigeria was around 180 million.
But according to this Statista publication, Nigeria produced only 238,000 metric tonnes of poultry meat in 2020.
These contradictory stats is either a result of natural up and down in the economy or someone doesn’t do his Math correctly.
But if we’re to go with the Nigerian Central Bank, it’s safe to say that Nigeria is the 4th largest producer of poultry meat in Africa.
This means Nigeria is following South Africa (the largest poultry meat producer in Africa) with 1.8 Million metric tonnes, Egypt (second largest poultry meat producer) with 1.3 million metric tonnes, and Morocco with 821,000 metric tonnes.
Poultry farming contributes 25% of Nigeria’s agricultural GDP
In 2019, it was reported that out of the total GDP of agriculture in Nigeria, poultry farming contributed 25%.
This makes poultry farming industry the single largest sector in agriculture.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, poultry farming contributes 6–8% of Nigeria’s GDP annually.
On the other hand, the World Bank’s Food and Agricultural Organization puts the value of the poultry farming contribution at between 9 and 10%.
Poultry farming has also proven to have the potential to provide employment opportunities for many unemployed youths in Nigeria.
In 2021, an agricultural food processing and export company invested 4 billion naira to boost poultry farming in Nigeria.
The investment is aimed at providing around 100,000 jobs by 2025.
Now, let’s check some facts that has to do with the poultry farming industry worldwide…
The United States is the world’s leading producer of chicken meat
The United States is home to most of the world’s broilers.
In 2020, the number of chickens in the US was estimated at 9.22 billion.
A greater percentage of these chickens are grown in factory farms, where they are bred in a short period to market size using methods and means that are not natural.
Farmers in the US used to rear chickens basically for their eggs, only to kill them when they got too old to lay anymore.
This was in the 1920s.
In 2021, the largest number of broilers was recorded in Georgia, with a total population of 1.3 billion.
Chicken is the second-most-eaten meat in the world
Chickens are reared basically for their meat and eggs.
Those that are grown primarily for meat are called broilers (you can read more about broiler farming here)
Those that are grown primarily for eggs are called layer (read more about layer farming here)
Because they are small in size, chickens can be raised in large numbers in limited spaces, even in backyards.
In addition, it doesn’t take too long or so much money to raise a chicken to maturity, which means that meat will regularly be available for consumption.
Chicken breast contains 31 grams of protein and 165 calories per 100 grams.
Protein from chicken helps in building strong bones and muscles, aids in weight management, reduce the risk of heart disease, boosts “feel-good” hormone (serotonin) levels, and provides other benefits.
In 2019, the countries that appeared to have the highest chicken meat consumption were China (20 million tons), the U.S. (19 million tons), and Brazil (12 million tons).
In 2022, the production level of poultry meat rose to 138 million tons, making it the world’s second most eaten meat.
Chickens can experience heart failure
Ok, here we go!
It may sound strange to you, but it is a fact that chickens can suffer heart failure.
And this is just one of those crazy things that can happen with your chicken.
Naturally, rearing our traditional chicken is easy (anyone can do it).
However, when it comes to starting a poultry farming business, you’re going to be raising chickens that are extremely delicate.
Many people have lost their entire life-savings because of some poultry diseases which came into their farm.
The good news is that, many of these diseases can be prevented, if you know what you’re doing.
A good place to start is to look for someone who has been running a poultry farm for some years and get them to train you about how to start a poultry farm in Nigeria.
If you need the help of our poultry farmers, we can give you access to them.
We have our associates’ farms in more than 20 states of Nigeria and we can give you the opportunity to meet and get trained from one of our farmers.
See how you can have access to our poultry farmers and practical training on the farm here
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