Abstract
The study assessed challenges of poultry production in Makurdi Area of Benue State, North Central Nigeria. Information on production activities, management and problems were collected from 50 poultry farmers in the study area using structured questionnaire and assessment through direct observations. The data were analyzed using tables, frequency distribution and percentages. From the analysis, the poultry enterprises are confronted with a number of constraints mitigating against their efficient operation. Majority (66%) of the poultry farms in Makurdi were of low to medium scale with flock size of < 1000 birds. The problems of low capital, high input costs, diseases and adverse weather conditions were identified in the study area. High cost of feeds and at times scarcity of layer feeds are major problems. They also identified proper marketing outlets especially for broiler sales. All these problems can be tackled by making loans/grants easily accessible by the government and encouraging farmers to organise themselves into cooperatives. By so doing their resources can be pooled together for meaningful development of their farms and the poultry industry in Benue State. Extension services should include creating awareness of the importance of biosecurity measures on farms in order to limit infections.
Highlights
Poultry makes a substantial contributions to food security and nutrition, providing energy, protein, and essential micronutrients to humans, with short production cycles and ability to convert a wide range of agric-food by-products and wastes into meat and eggs edible by humans [1].Due to the high population growth in Africa [2] and growing income, the demand for eggs and poultry meat has significantly increased in recent years across large parts of the continent [3]
This implies that poultry farming is common among younger farmers
Challenges facing the poultry industry in Makurdi, Benue State impede the growth of the industry and hinder it from realising its potential
Summary
Due to the high population growth in Africa [2] and growing income, the demand for eggs and poultry meat has significantly increased in recent years across large parts of the continent [3]. Nigeria‟s population is projected at 300 million by 2050 and 280 million are projected to live in cities, significantly increasing the demand for poultry products [4]. According to the Federal Livestock Department FLD [5], the poultry population estimate in Nigeria as at 2009 stood at 183.16 million birds and producing about 650,000 MT of meat and 300,000 MT of eggs [4]. It is estimated that about 1.2 million of poultry meat is smuggled into Nigeria from Benin Republic [4]. From a market size perspective, Nigeria‟s egg production is the largest in Africa and it has the second largest chicken population after South Africa‟s 200 million birds [6]
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