Nigeria: More problems for Plateau poultry industry as business continues to crumble

Plateau State is renowned for its vibrant poultry industry and the eggs produced in the state are known to be among the best in the country. As a result, the industry became one of the highest employers of labour with over 4,000 farms, with each often having between 10 and 20 staff. The poultry business was flourishing until a few years back when the sector began undergoing serious challenges; pushing many poultry farmers to quit the business, while those still afloat are operating below their original operational capacity. Our correspondent who spoke to some of the poultry farmers gathered that the high cost of feed and hike in transportation prices have aggravated their challenges. Johnson Bagudu, who spoke on the cost of feed and why it has not come down, said although maize is being harvested now, it cannot be used for feed because it is dry corn that is used and that would be from October. According to him, a bag of maize, which cost between N72,000 and N75,000 before is now ...