Poultry farmers in Bauchi, Gombe and Jigawa states have raised concerns over rising feed costs and weak demand , saying the challenges are reducing profits and forcing some operators to scale down or shut their businesses.
The farmers said they were increasingly turning to alternative feeds to cut expenses and recover their investments amid declining demand for poultry products.
A Bauchi-based farmer, Margret Yohanna, said she had reduced the number of chicks she raised from 100 to 50 to minimise costs.
She said a bag of refined feed now cost between ₦20,000 and ₦23,000, while feeding a bird from the starter to finisher stage cost about ₦8,000.
Another farmer, Aisha Musa, said she relied on locally processed feed to remain in business, while Abdulkahar Lawal lamented that rising production costs were forcing some small-scale operators to close their farms.
Umar Ibrahim also said expenses on feed, vaccines and other inputs had eroded profits, with some farmers selling poultry products below production costs.
In Jigawa, poultry feed dealer Aliyu Hamza said a 25-kilogramme bag of feed sold for between ₦20,000 and ₦22,000, down from ₦24,000, due to low demand.
Sunusi Abdu, a member of the Jigawa State Poultry Sellers Association, said his daily chicken sales had fallen from 150 to about 60, leaving some birds unsold for days.
The Chairman of the Chicken Sellers Association in Dutse Local Government Area, Ali Halilu, attributed the decline to economic hardship, which had weakened consumers’ purchasing power.
Meanwhile, farmers in Gombe said high feed and vaccine costs had forced some operators to abandon the business.
Florence John, a poultry farmer with more than five years of experience, estimated that 30 to 40 per cent of farmers in her Yelenguza community had closed their farms because they could no longer afford production costs.
She and another farmer, Yunua Ibrahim, urged federal and state governments to provide loans, grants and subsidies, support local feed production and improve access to affordable farming inputs.
They said the measures would help sustain poultry businesses, protect jobs and strengthen food security.
