In the yuletide, the demand for chicken is expected to skyrocket in the market, and farmers and sellers of chickens are already keeping their fingers crossed to witness what should be their greatest moment for the year. However, our experience has shown that local producers are often disadvantaged in the market due to perceived differentiation in pricing with the foreign-sourced chickens, dumping, and lack of proximity of outlets for local chickens to consumers.
No doubt, income
from livestock constitutes a significant share of the total household income
across all production systems, contributing to 23, 20, and 51 percent of total
household income in extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive systems
respectively (Africa Sustainable Livestock 2050). However, apart from
generating cash income for producers, poultry keeping contributes to
livelihoods by providing protein and other nourishments to consumers.
Globally,
more than 60 billion chickens are killed for consumption every year. Nigeria is
the second largest chicken producing country in Africa after South Africa
(SAHEL 2015 and FAO 2019). The Nigerian poultry industry comprises about 180
Million chickens which produce more than 450 billion tonnes of meat and 3.8
Million eggs per year. In Nigeria, meat
is the most consumed poultry product with a greater preference for broiler
meats.
The
above is espoused by a 2014 study of consumer preference and perception of the
different types of chicken meats among 370 respondents in the University of
Ibadan by Ogunwole O. A., Omojola O. T., and Adedeji B. S. The study showed
that majority of respondents (62 percent) preferred to take broiler meat due to
its tenderness or juiciness, and respondents mostly buy their chickens from
meat shops followed by poultry farms as well as open markets and personal farms
respectively. However, while all respondents admitted to consume poultry meat,
majority (51.9 percent) consumes it monthly, 28.9 consumes it weekly, whereas,
19.2 percent consumes it only during the festive periods (e.g Christmas).
Source: Ogunwole, Omojola et al (2014), FarmKonnect Industry Review 2020
Challenges of Local Farmers
One
of the greatest challenges (perhaps the strictest one) local poultry farmers often
contend with is dumping and over flooding of the local market with foreign processed
chickens. Researchers experience that despite the ban on the importation of
frozen foods into Nigeria, smugglers still get into the country with smuggled
frozen chickens of about 1.5 Million tones which poses great health risks on
the lives of Nigerians.
In
a 2015 study of chicken buying behaviour among Kwara state residents by A.G Adeyonu,
E.O Oyawoye E.F. Fabiyi and A. O. Owolabi, it is revealed that the great health
risk of the imported frozen foods is due to additive chemicals to preserve them. Hence,
concerns about the carcinogenic harm of foreign processed chickens should
enhance the need to promote locally processed ones. Furthermore, locally
produced chickens are usually disadvantaged due to perceived differentiation in
pricing with foreign sourced ones. As at the time the study was carried out,
one kilogram of smuggled frozen chicken was sold for 680 Naira while the price
of one kg of locally processed chicken was sold at 750 Naira. This survey shows
that smuggled chicken was cheaper than the locally processed ones, thereby
encouraging consumers to forgo locally produced chickens.
Another
challenge is that of proximity of outlets for local chickens to consumers. The
aforementioned study shows that locally processed chicken outlets are not strategically
located for easy access to consumers. Over 80% of respondents confirmed that
Nigerian Processed Chickens were not readily available and that the distance to
sales outlets was 3.21 km. However, further analysis shows that while the
willingness to purchase Nigerian Processed Chickens decreased with sales outlet
distance, it increased largely with education and income.
From
the foregoing, it is apparent the willingness of Nigerians, especially the
learned and discerning ones to stick to locally produced chickens. However,
distance or inaccessibility of the outlets for the locally produced chickens to
most consumers, porosity of the borders that gives way to smugglers
and lack of price regulation have been the major setbacks to the local farmers
and producers of birds. Thus the following recommendations are made:
- There is need for a more stringent approach on the part of the Government to regulate the importation of frozen foods into the country.
- Better import substitution strategies that will foster an enabling environment for local producers and processors must be activated.
- Policies that will enhance local buyers’ purchasing power should be pursued in order to encourage their willingness to pay for Nigerian processed chickens.
- Farmers should seek to establish more sales outlets through collaboration with standard supermarkets or stores in urban centers.
Comments
Post a Comment