Xmas: Poultry farmers target last-minute supply

Poultry dealers in Abuja, FCT, are struggling to meet the market demand as farmers are said to be withholding their chickens in preparation for Christmas sales. A chicken trader in Kubwa, Yahaya Ndajili, said the few farmers that were ready to sell reviewed their prices even before the usual festival’s bumper. He described the development as a repeated scenario every year before the market would be flooded with supplies usually about four days to the event. Ndajili, who doubles as the FCT Poultry Traders’ Association, Kubwa chapter, said they were only left with the option to buy the available few from farmers that were ready to release a few numbers of their poultry that come at exorbitant rates. He said, “The only thing that keeps us afloat are those farmers that are willing to sell their few chickens in order to be able to meet one demand or the other, or perhaps as an alternative to space their stock.” Given the breakdown of available chicken rate currently in the market, the poultry trader said as a result of the supply adjustment, a broiler chicken of about six weeks that sold at the rate of N6,000 a few days ago had now jerked up to N8,000, while that of N8,000, was now sold at N10,000. Also speaking, a poultry trader at the Abuja Main Livestock Market located in Dei-Dei, Abdurrashid Adamu, said they were expecting old layer chickens in a few days from states like Kano, Kaduna, Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto. He added that, “As of now, we are feeling the impact of low supply, and as a result, regular customers are finding it difficult to buy them at the reviewed prices.” Lawal Hamza Daura, another trader in the market, was lucky to have available big size broiler chickens in his stall, which he sells to customers at between the rate of N20,000 and N23,000. Daura said, “For instance, a customer that would make a selection for only one or two chickens would get each at the rate of 23,000, while the one that would buy in bulk would be given at a discounted rate of N20,000.” The trader predicted that there was likely to be a jerk up in the prices of chickens above what was experienced during the same season last year considering the cost of commodities. A customer that went to the market for an early purchase, John Ndese, said that he found the rate of chickens in the market relatively cheap compared to the same period during last year’s December. He said, “One can’t however know what will happen in the next one week when the real business of the chicken market will take place, even though most of the people are complaining about lack of money.”

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