Expert urges youth to exploit potentials in poultry farming to stem unemployment

An animal genetics and breeding specialist, Mr Amana Charles, has called on youths across the country to exploit the potentials in poultry farming to become self-employed and to stem joblessness.

Charles, who made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday, in Gombe, said the huge consumption the products had made poultry farming lucrative.

According to him, poultry farming was one of the biggest opportunities in Nigeria and Africa as the appetite for poultry meat and eggs remained huge and growing.

He stated that the poultry sub-sector had the capacity to create employment opportunities for millions of Nigerian youths, if properly harnessed, and especially when the traditional source of animal protein from cattle, sheep and goats could not meet the protein requirement of Nigerians.

He said with the recurring clashes between herders and farmers, attention was now shifting towards the production of poultry otherwise known as white meat.

“This is because it is easy to produce, flexible and also with quick turnover.

“This makes it an attractive venture capable of providing job opportunities for millions of Nigerian youths”, he said.

Charles said the poultry industry was very large and encompassed many areas where the youths could earn a living from.

“The available opportunities that can provide job opportunities for the teeming youths include being a local distributor of day old chicks (broilers, layers and cockerel), pullets at point of lay, egg distributor, live broilers, cockerels and spent layers.

“Poultry feed distributor, equipment, medications as well as vaccine, sale of poultry droppings for use as organic manure among others”, the expert said.

He, however, advised youths to have an understanding of the rudiments of the enterprise before venturing into it.

“Poultry production is a very delicate enterprise; a little mistake can lead to very high mortality rate and great economic losses consequently”, Charles warned.

According to him, some of the challenges associated with poultry farming, included the problem of initial start-up capital, inaccessibility to grants and loans, technical knowhow, high cost of feed, pests and diseases, among others.

To address some of these challenges, Charles advised the youth to seek expert advice before starting poultry farming and to start small, but keep increasing the scale of investment.

He also advised youths to form cooperative societies in order to access subsidies, loans or grants from government or non-governmental agencies.

“The issue of high cost of feed can be surmounted by utilising self-compounded feed from locally available agro-by-products and non-conventional feedstuff instead of heavily depending on commercial diets,” he said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that poultry farming includes domesticated fowls such as chickens, turkeys, ducks, geese and guinea fowl, reared for their meat and eggs.