Poultry Farming in Nigeria: How to Get Started

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Nigerians love poultry meat, it is the third most consumed meat in Nigeria, after beef and goat meat, reports indicate that Nigerians consume over 1.5 million tons of poultry meat annually, and the demand for poultry eggs and meat continues to rise steadily. However, local production of poultry in Nigeria only meets about 30% of demand, while poultry imports meet up the rest of the demand. This clearly indicates that poultry farming in Nigeria is a highly lucrative field of agriculture that is still largely under-exploited in Nigeria. Thus, if you are thinking of starting a career in agriculture, you should definitely consider poultry farming. 

Poultry farming refers to the raising of domestic birds like chicken, turkey, ducks etc for the purpose of producing meat, eggs, feathers and manure for human consumption and other purposes. It is a highly profitable venture with a lot of exciting opportunities, and if done right, you’ll be killing two birds with one stone– you will make a lot of profit due to high demand for poultry meat and eggs in Nigeria, and you’ll also be doing your part to ensure that local production of poultry meets demand, thus minimising importation of poultry products. If you want to get more insights about the facts, figures and statistics about poultry farming in Nigeria, read this blog post.

Continue reading this blog post if you want to learn about how to get started with poultry farming in Nigeria. It contains everything you need to know about starting a poultry farm in Nigeria.

HOW TO GET STARTED WITH POULTRY FARMING IN NIGERIA

Learning About The Cost And Creating A Budget

The cost of starting and operating a poultry farm depends on the size of the farm and the scale of operations. A small-scale farm requires less capital due to the low cost of housing and feeding involved. Large scale poultry farms require well-constructed housing systems, large quantities of highly nutritious food and appropriate measures for disease and pest control which can be quite expensive. Before starting a poultry farm, decide the kind of farm you want to start, find out the cost of everything you need to start the farm and create a budget accordingly. You can start a small-scale poultry business in Nigeria with less than N100,000. Medium to large scale farms require a lot more money, but it is advisable to start small even if you have more than enough funds to spare.

Choosing The Type of Bird to Rear

The most common birds raised by poultry farmers today include chicken, turkey, geese, quail, pigeon and guinea fowl. However, chicken remains the most widely consumed bird in Nigeria, making it a suitable choice for farmers who want to take advantage of the growing demand for poultry meat and eggs in Nigeria, Turkey is a close second. However, if you prefer a niche market with less competition, you can consider rearing quails, pigeons or ducks. 

After deciding the type of bird, you want to rear, the next step is to identify the different breeds of the bird available and choose the most profitable breed(s) for your farm. For instance, if you decide to start rearing chickens, you can choose to raise only broilers, layers, cockerels or a mixture of all the different breeds. Broilers are young males and females raised for the sole purpose of providing meat, cockerels serve the same purpose but they grow at a slower pace than broilers. Layers are considered valuable and highly profitable because they provide both eggs and meat. Once you have decided the breed(s), you can now decide on a suitable location for your farm.

Selecting A Suitable Farm Location for Poultry Farming in Nigeria

To start a poultry farm, you need a suitable farm site. Ideally, poultry farms should be situated far away from residential buildings due to the offensive odour that typically emanates from them. However, If you cannot afford to acquire a new site, you can start with any available space in your place of residence, but as your poultry farm expands and demands get higher, you will need to move your farm to a new site. 

If you can afford a new site away from your place of residence, select a location that is calm and free of pollution, predators and other threats. Also, ensure that the location is close to a good water source, if you cannot afford to install a borehole on your farm, to ensure an adequate supply of clean water to the farm. A good poultry farm should also be easily accessible, it should be situated in a location with good roads, to ensure easy transportation of farm products when they are ready for sale.

Providing Good Housing Or Shelter For poultry farming in Nigeria

To keep your birds, secure and safe, you must create a good shelter for them on the farm site. There are four major housing systems in poultry farming; The free-range or extensive system, the semi-intensive system, folding units’ system and the intensive system.

Free-range Poultry Housing System

This is the oldest system of housing birds in poultry farming. In this system, the birds are allowed to roam freely around the farm during the day and are kept in a shelter at night. The shelter is usually provided by temporary roofing supported by ordinary poles. The free-range system is perfect for new poultry farmers because it requires less capital investment than other housing systems. It minimises not just the cost of housing construction, but also the cost of feeding the birds as this system allows them to get most of their food by searching around the farm. The major disadvantage of this system is that it may lead to loss of many birds due to exposure to predators, contaminated food and other dangers they may encounter while roaming around the farm.

Semi-intensive Housing System

This type of housing system is partly free-range and partly intensive. In this system, a small land surrounded by a wire mesh is attached to a poultry house. The small land area is called a run. The birds spend the daytime in the run and take shelter in the poultry house at night. 

Folding Unit System

This system also comprises a poultry house attached to a run but the space requirement is less and the total poultry unit can be shifted from one place to another.

Intensive System

This system is the most suitable and efficient housing system for large scale poultry farming. Commercial poultry farming is done only with this system. There are different types of intensive poultry housing systems:

  • Deep litter system
  • Slatted or Wired-floor system
  • Combination of the slatted floor and deep litter system
  • Aviaries
  • Cage system or Battery system

The intensive poultry housing system enhances productivity in many ways. It makes day-to-day management easy and the birds tend to save more energy because of the restriction of their movement. With this system, you can easily and accurately apply scientific management practices like breeding, feeding, medication and culling. This system also makes it easy to identify, isolate and treat sick birds, thus preventing disease outbreaks in the farm. The major disadvantage of this system is the high cost of construction and day-to-day management involved.

Feeding And Caring For The Birds

In order to attain maximum productivity, you must ensure that the birds in your farm receive adequate nutrition, care and medication when necessary. The birds must be fed with good quality food and clean water daily. Poultry feeds are usually in three forms: Crumbles, Pellets & Mash. Maize and soybean are the most common feed given to poultry in Nigeria and they are a cheap source of energy and protein respectively for your birds. There are other feeds which you can add to their nutritions such as balancers, concentrates, millets, fish oil and more. You can get all these from poultry feed companies.

If you are rearing chicks between 0-4 weeks old, you will want to get a starter feed or starter mash.

To prevent disease outbreaks, the poultry house must be kept clean and dry at all times, and measures such as vaccination and medication should be taken when appropriate.

Marketing And Selling The Birds And Their Products

Poultry farming in Nigeria is known to be very profitable, thus, many go into poultry farming with the sole aim of making money or profits. The cost of running a poultry farm in Nigeria can be very high, thus, if marketing is not done properly, the farmer may incur enormous losses that will cause the business to crumble. Do not be caught up in the operational aspect of your business so much that you ignore the sales aspect. You can advertise your business online through your social media accounts, WhatsApp status and groups, employ marketers, sell to hotels, restaurants and event caterers. If you run a small-scale poultry farm, inform friends, relatives and neighbours that you sell poultry meat and eggs. Also, try to boost your sales during festive seasons by giving discounts, encouraging referrals, offering home delivery etc.

Although the demand for poultry is high in Nigeria, not every poultry farmer will find success. Running a successful poultry farm can be very challenging, it requires adequate knowledge, finance, patience, attentiveness and good marketing skills. Before venturing into poultry farming in Nigeria, consider the cost involved, acquire extensive knowledge about the business and plan well. 

In 2021, Babban Gona supported over 40 poultry entrepreneurs to successfully raise over 40,000-day-old chicks across 10 cycles. 

You may also be interested in:

Farming in Nigeria: How to get Started.
Maize Farming in Nigeria: How to get Started.

1 thought on “Poultry Farming in Nigeria: How to Get Started”

  1. AYUBA M. CHENCHUK

    Is a very good initiative by Babban gonna
    Keep up the good job you have started.
    More grace to you.
    How can one be engaged as your poultry Enterprise?

    Reply

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Frank Altman

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Frank Altman is the founder and first CEO of Community Reinvestment Fund, USA. As CRF’s founder, Altman pioneered the development of a secondary market for community and economic development loans. Since 1988, under Altman’s leadership and in partnership with a network of more than 200 local community partners, CRF has funded more than $3.5 billion in loans to job-creating small businesses, non-profits, charter schools and affordable housing projects in 50 states plus the District of Columbia and more than 1,000 communities across the United States.
 
Altman helped design the creation of the federal New Markets Tax Credit to encourage private investment in low-income communities and is a founding member and first President of the New Markets Tax Credit Coalition. He is also a member of the Center for Community Development Investors at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and an advisor to the Social Innovation Initiative at Brown University and the Center for Impact Finance at the University of New Hampshire. His work has been featured in Inc. Magazine, where he was named one of its Entrepreneurs of the Year, and he received Fast Company’s Social Capitalist award.
 
Altman has been awarded the Economic Development Innovation Award from GIS Planning Inc. and fDi Intelligence for his contribution to the field of economic development. Altman is a Senior Fellow at Ashoka, the world-wide network of social entrepreneurs and a founding member of Kindred.
 
More recently, in September 2023, Altman authored a book published by Forbes and titled “A New Capitalism: Creating A Just Economy That Works For All.”It is available in physical and online book stores and on Audible.

Michael Jainzik

Board Director

 

Michael Jainzik is a Principal Sector Economist in KfW Development Bank. From 2001 to 2011 his work focused on investing and managing equity participation in investment funds and banking institutions, and in agricultural finance and microfinance. From 2011 to 2015 he worked as Director of KfW’s office in Windhoek. In this role he helped to manage and develop KfW’s EUR 250 million portfolio in Namibia. From 2015 to 2017 he assumed the position of Head of Corporate Development in Access Microfinance Holding where he was responsible for structuring and managing a merger process between Access Holding and another corporation.

Prior to his role in Babban Gona, Michael has served as a non-executive director in Access Bank Azerbaijan (2006-2011, Chairman), Belarusian Bank for Small Business (2008-2011), Rural Impulse Fund II Luxemburg (2010-2011) and AB Bank Zambia (2011-2016).

Michael has studied Economics and Management at the Universities of Lüneburg and Witten/Herdecke (Germany) and ETEA – Universidad Loyola in Córdoba (Spain) and holds a Master Degree in Economics and Management.

Bello Maccido

Board Member

 Mr. Maccido is an accomplished Corporate and Investment banker with over 31 years post graduate experience. He had at different times served on the Boards of FBN Holdings Plc, First Bank of Nigeria Plc and Legacy Pension Manager Limited and is currently the Chairman, FBN Merchant Bank Ltd. Mr. Maccido is a Fellow of both the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers and the Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria. Mr. Maccido holds a Law Degree (LL.B) and a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA respectively. He is a Barrister at Law (BL) of the Supreme Court of Nigeria and an Alumnus of the Executive Business Programs of the Harvard Business School and the IMD, Lausanne, Switzerland.

Muhammad Sanusi, CON

Chairman of the Board

His Highness Muhammad Sanusi was appointed the 10th Governor and Chairman of the Board, Central Bank of Nigeria on 3 June 2009. He earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and also has a first-class degree in Sharia and Islamic Studies from the African International University, Khartoum, Sudan.
 
From working as a lecturer at the Ahmadu Bello University, where he taught Economics, he joined the banking industry in 1985, and by January 2009 had risen to General Manager and Group Managing Director of First Bank of Nigeria PLC, Nigeria’s oldest and biggest bank. Mallam Sanusi has been conferred with a National Award of Commander of the Order of the Niger (CON) by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and has also been awarded the “Global Central Bank Governor for 2010” by The Banker Magazine, a publication of the Financial Times.
 
He was also voted Central Bank Governor of the Year for Sub-Saharan Africa 2009 (an award he won again in 2010) by Emerging Markets, a publication of Euromoney Institutional Investors. In 2011, Mr. Sanusi was named Forbes Africa Person of the Year for 2011. He was also listed by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Kola Masha (Managing Director) Prior to Babban Gona, Kola was a Managing Director and CEO of a major subsidiary in the Notore.

Lola Masha

Executive Director

 

Before joining Babban Gona, Lola was the Director for Trust and Safety at OLX Group, working across 30+ OLX markets to ensure that buyers and sellers can transact safely and securely on the platform. Prior to her global role at OLX, Lola was the Country Manager for OLX in Nigeria where she was responsible for driving all elements of the business including Business Development, Product Localization, Marketing and other relevant functions. OLX Group is one of the world’s leading online classifieds players. Through its brands including OLX, Avito, dubizzle and letgo, OLX Group is the home of online classifieds in high-growth markets.

These platforms are the leading destination for buying and selling used goods and services in 30 countries, and the #1 mobile app in its category in more than 20 markets. Globally ~ 11 million items are exchanged through its platforms every single month.

Prior to joining OLX, Lola spent 4 years at Google leading various Product Partnerships efforts across EMEA and Emerging Markets. Lola was one of the earliest Googlers in Sub-Saharan Africa when the technology company began its operations in the region.

Lola shaped the regional strategy, executed on several core initiatives and led business development efforts with key SSA partners including the telcos, OEMs, digital content providers and local entrepreneurs. Lola brings significant leadership experience in business development, entrepreneurship, operational transformation and product development across several industries including technology and financial services.

In addition to Africa, Lola has substantial international working experience in North America, Europe, and Asia. She also worked in the Chicago office of McKinsey & Company, where she spent time advising senior executives on extensive strategic management topics. Lola holds a Doctorate degree in Engineering from the UniversiAnnual Report 2019/2020 ty of California, Berkeley and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Virginia. She is happily married with two kids.

Kola Masha

Managing Director

 Prior to Babban Gona, Kola was a Managing Director and CEO of a major subsidiary in the Notore Group, one of Nigeria’s leading agricultural conglomerates, where he raised US$24 Million to develop an integrated agricultural trading, production and processing business.

Furthermore, he led the development and execution of Notore’s commercial strategy across West and Central Africa, preparing the company to sell one million tons of fertilizer and establish a modern seed business.

He led the effort to raise $130 million in equity and the restructuring of $360 Million in debt. Kola brings significant leadership experience in venture capital, corporate finance, business development, marketing and operations, across four continents with multiple global companies, including GE, Notore and Abiomed. In addition, Kola brings extensive public sector experience as Senior Advisor to the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture.

In recognition for his leadership in driving positive change on the African Continent, he has received several global awards including the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship, a leading leadership institute led by General Collin Powell and appointed to the Board of the African Enterprise Challenge Fund, a $250 Million fund that awards grants and repayable grants to private sector companies to support innovative business ideas in agriculture, agribusiness, renewable energy, adaptation to climate change and access to information and financial services. Kola holds an MBA (Honors) from Harvard and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Kola Masha

 

Prior to Babban Gona, Kola was a Managing Director and CEO of a major subsidiary in the Notore Group, one of Nigeria’s leading agricultural conglomerates, where he raised US$24 Million to develop an integrated agricultural trading, production and processing business.

Furthermore, he led the development and execution of Notore’s commercial strategy across West and Central Africa, preparing the company to sell one million tons of fertilizer and establish a modern seed business.

He led the effort to raise $130 million in equity and the restructuring of $360 Million in debt. Kola brings significant leadership experience in venture capital, corporate finance, business development, marketing and operations, across four continents with multiple global companies, including GE, Notore and Abiomed. In addition, Kola brings extensive public sector experience as Senior Advisor to the Nigerian Minister of Agriculture.

In recognition for his leadership in driving positive change on the African Continent, he has received several global awards including the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship, a leading leadership institute led by General Collin Powell and appointed to the Board of the African Enterprise Challenge Fund, a $250 Million fund that awards grants and repayable grants to private sector companies to support innovative business ideas in agriculture, agribusiness, renewable energy, adaptation to climate change and access to information and financial services. Kola holds an MBA (Honors) from Harvard and a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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