Poultry Farmers Should Cooperate Not Compete – Ijewere

Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere

The need for cooperation and specialization in the Nigeria poultry industry has been re-emphasized.
Speaking at this year’s Nigeria Poultry Show organised by the Poultry Association Of Nigeria (PAN) which was held at the DLK Events Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State, the Coordinator Nigeria Agribusiness Group (NABG), Mr. Emmanuel Ijewere said there is a need for poultry farmers to realize that they are not in any competition with anyone in the industry.

Ijewere, who is also the CEO Best Foods Global Limited, said poultry farmers in the country must understand that they are in poultry for business and not competition.

He said: “You must realize that you are in poultry for business and business means profit, profit means progress, progress means development and development means growth.

“Given the statistics we have, there is no poultry farmer in Nigeria that is in competition with anybody because whatever you produce does not even scrape the surface of the demand for poultry products in the country”

The NAGB Coordinator described as stupid and unprofitable the mentality of poultry farmers who build a cage around themselves, adding that there is a need to sort out ways by which everyone could work in cooperation.

Ijewere who noted that there are too many small poultry farmers in Nigeria, said about 90 percent are unprofitable.

According to him, there is a need for poultry farmers in Nigeria to locate and cooperate with their neighbours and also have an area of specialization.

“As poultry farmers, you have to move to a critical mass, find your neighbor and cooperate with them. There is no need for someone who has 500 birds to start processing them; the loose to be incurred is enormous. You need cooperation, you need to have specialization. Not everyone that says am in poultry business, needs to have a farm.

“There should be people who do the day old chicks; there should be people who do the aggregation of the feeds, maize, soya and all other inputs. We do not have enough of the specialization, do not try to be everything to every sector of this business” he said.

Ijewere further stated that there is a need for each poultry farmer to revolutionize his/her thinking, saying “the thinking in agribusiness in Nigeria today is no longer supply driven, it is now demand driven, fortunately for the poultry industry, the demand is high but it is getting more sophisticated.

“As the news of the imported chicken that is poisonous is growing, less people are asking for it, which means that they are going to ask for our own chicken. The question is are we ready? Do you have what they need? Do you have the quantity they demand and deserve? There is a need for you to start thinking change.
“We must not go on individual farming; we must go on collecting farming. We must be able to do it together with no competition in view” he said.

On the issue of off-takers, Ijewere said NABG is mapping out ways to end this challenge. He noted that due to the small nature of some poultry farmers, they are usually taken for granted and owed for several weeks before being paid especially by eatery owners. This he said happens because farmers are not united.
He however stated that there is a need for poultry farmers in Nigeria to realize that they are not in competition with anyone rather they need to be in cooperation with each other.

Ijewere therefore urged the host of the event PAN Ogun State Chapter, to as a matter of importance, map out ways to protect its own farmers in other to restore their hope, adding that the future millionaires in Nigeria must come from the agribusiness industry.