ABSTRACT
In Africa and the world at large, people tend to establish businesses and become entrepreneurs’ which managing of the business just to bear risks and at the very end, their risks leads to profitability. So many people fail to venture into business because they don’t want to bear the risks involved in establishing a business.
So in this term paper, I will like to recommend people and the world as a whole to venture into poultry farming.
Poultry farming, the content of this business idea ranges from, the concept which is the conceptual analysis and the nature of the business; follow by the product or services, the business idea value proposition, the expected customers and competitors, the competitive strategy and finally the sustainability and profitability strategies of the poultry farming business.
INTRODUCTION
Nigeria has a population of over 17o million and with the increase in awareness on the various health impediment of meat i.e.(red meat), they have been an increase in demand of poultry meat.
Poultry farming is a very lucrative and wide profit making business to venture into, with different aspects, some of which are , Egg production i.e. layer breeding, meat production (Broilers breeding), chicken breeding, poultry feed production, poultry equipment manufacturing. Poultry farming business is a capital intensive depending on the type of scale, location of the farm and the type of management technology used.
Since there will always be a demand for it in the society. So therefore, business of this type can be viable in many locations across the world. With the right planning and execution, venturing into poultry business can be an interesting way to own a personal business. Poultry business is one of the businesses that can grow to become successful and profitable one if only you can identify the challenges and everyday problems encountered on the business and how to tackle them.
THE CONCEPT AND NATURE OF POULTRY FARMING
Poultry farming is the process of raising domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese for the purpose of farming meat or eggs for food.
Poultry are farmed in great numbers with chickens being the most numerous. More than 50 billion chickens are raised annually as a source of food, for both their meat and their eggs.
Chickens raised for eggs are usually called layers while chickens raised for meat are often called broilers.
Majority of poultry farms are raised using intensive farming technology or techniques.
According to research and the world watch institute, 74% of the world’s poultry meat and 68% of eggs are produced through intensive farming. And one alternative to intensive poultry farming is free range farming.
Chickens are kept indoors with space around 12 to 14 birds per square meter. The chickens grow slowly and live for up to two weeks longer then intensively farmed birds. The benefit of higher welfare indoor systems reduces the growth rate, less crowding and more opportunities for natural behavior.
Free range poultry farming consist of poultry chickens to roam around freely instead of being constrained in any manner, free range poultry productions requires that the poultry have access to the outside. In some cases, poultry are raised on pasture, enabling the poultry to move around, to forge for their natural food and live in a cleaner condition than those in batteries , in organic system, chickens are also free range , organic chickens are slower in growing, most traditional breeds live typically for about 81 days, they have a layer space allowance outside.
THE PRODUCT OR SERVICES
Domestic birds such as chickens, chicks, turkeys and geese produce very important and a valuable product, such as eggs and others which in turn render services to the poultry farmer, more than 50 billion chickens are raised annually as a source of food for both meat and eggs, chickens raised for eggs are usually called layers while chickens raised for meat are called broilers.
Poultry farming business has numerous services to offer to the farmer in return, as a result of these services many farmers prefer to invest in this business; people establish poultry farms for the purpose of producing eggs, meat and generating high income from the product. Chickens are raised throughout the world as a very good source of food from their eggs and meat, the services which the products of poultry render are as follows;
Poultry provides fresh and nutritious food and has a huge global demands, global consumers of poultry products prefer them due to their nutrients and freshness
Poultry farming creates income and empowerment opportunities for the people; unemployed educated youths can easily create a great income and employment opportunity by raising poultry commercially.
Marketing; there are various established markets for poultry products in almost all part the world.
Commercial poultry farming business ensures high return of investment within a short period of time. Some poultry birds like broilers, chickens takes short period of time to mature and generate profit.
THE BUSINESS IDEA VALUE PROPOSITION
So far as farmers and land owners substitute poultry farm waste for commercial fertilizers, they find that they can save substantially on fertilizers costs and provide the same needed macro and micro nutrients for plant growth. Additionally, using litter property provides the opportunity to recycle nutrients which can reduce the potential for surface and ground water from over application.
The nutrient composition of poultry litter can be quite variable but the average analysis for nitrogen per ton of their litter is approximately 60-45, here the nitrogen been present or available serve as an effective tool to accurately determine residual soil nitrogen levels in raw cropping situations.
The economic value of poultry litter is frequently and considered to be less than the time and effort needed for handling and transport. In addition to the N- P- K macro nutrients, many micro nutrients that is required to optimize plants growth, such as magnesium, manganese, boron, zinc and sulfur are present in poultry litter.
Litter also contains large amount of organic matter which will improve soil structure and tilts. Micronutrients and tilt are additional benefits of poultry litter. Applying poultry litter to fields will reduce or eliminate the need to apply micro nutrients such as boron and zinc for raw crops such as corn and decreases the need for time addition to meet magnesium needs or for soil PH adjustment. In order to effectively utilize poultry litter and take advantage of the nutrients as a fertilizer source, it must be applied at the proper time and in the appropriate amount.
THE EXPECTED CUSTOMERS AND COMPETITORS
Before venturing into poultry farming or business so many things and conditions must be taken into consideration, and the second step or challenge is how to customers and ahead of competition.
There is a saying that, the more time and effort invested in a particular stuff, the more profit it bring in return in order to gain customers trust more effort and efficiency must invested in making your poultry product look good, healthy and attractive to attract customers and people to stay ahead of competition. With the right investment and management techniques, chickens can be pushed to dizzying levels of production which ensure maximum profitability for the farmer. As long as the requirement of the birds are met adequately, it is possible to fully maximize on the potential of your poultry products whether they are improve with layers or breeds among others. To make business attractive and stay ahead of competition the following techniques must be considered,
Housing; the most important and undoubtedly is housing part, some people will simply design a corrugated iron structure with poor insulation, poor ventilation, it will definitely react negatively leading to low production efficiency, poultry housing must be constructed in a good and conducive way in order to provide the birds with an optimal environment for production.
The temperature must be moderate
The poultry must be supplied with sufficient clean drinking water, when the above aims are met the chickens will be attractive to below customers,
Restaurants operators
Roadside business people
Fast food joints
Big hotels
Family (for consumption) to mention but a few
THE COMPETITIVE STRATEGY
The competitive strategy of poultry farm is streamline to be discussed in the headings below,
• Hygiene, sanitation
• Vaccination program
• Lights and lighting
• Choice of breeds
HYGIENE; It is very important and essential to keep poultry operation or place as clean as possible, this is the very way to impact production in a positive way or manner. If hygiene levels are not kept high, various issues will arise such as disease, pest rodents and flies, when a proper hygiene is given to the chickens, a greater packaging which will attract customers will be involve
VACCINATION PROGRAM; the vaccination program must be planned and be up to date for all the common deadly diseases. The farmer must make use of high quality vaccines sourced from trusted agro vets, the vaccinations is done to reduce high mortality rate.
LIGHT AND LIGHTING; lighting is very essential at night particularly in commercial egg layers as it will help in maximizing production and also reaping the maximum genetic potential of the chickens.
SUSTAINABILITY AND PROFITABILITY
Going into poultry farming for the purpose of egg production means intending to raise laying hens, setting up a poultry farm which can lead to sustainability and profitability one must consider the adequate land i.e. land for poultry structures and for carrying out various farm operations and clean water is needed for consumption and cleaning within the poultry. So it is imperative to identify a reliable source of portable water, the manager should be experienced and have basic training in poultry management.
A poultry house which will accommodate 100 to 2000 hens will require 1 and 2 poultry attendants respectively.
Production system is classified into laying cage and deep litter systems, in laying cage system, hens are kept throughout their productive life time in cages, however, this system requires high capital investment as such they are strictly commendable for use by commercial egg producers and this aid sustainability in poultry farming, in laying cage system, eggs producers buy chicks at point of laying which is between 17 weeks old, hens will start laying eggs immediately, however at about the 21st weeks majority of the hens will start laying eggs through to 44 weeks then a proper market survey is essential as that will enable the farmer to identify the correct and emerging markets where eggs can be sold at a higher price, marketing activities include among others grading, quality, promotions, packaging and value adding. These activities are essential as they will lead to selling large volumes of products as quickly as possible resulting in the farmer making a lot of profit.
Feeding high quality fresh and nutritious food always ensure good health, proper growth and high production, a farmer must feed the poultry birds healthy and must know the various types of poultry diseases, symptoms and treatment and vaccinate the birds timely.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, Poultry farming is a very lucrative and wide profit making business to venture into, with different aspects, some of which are, Egg production i.e. layer breeding, meat production (Broilers breeding), chicken breeding, poultry feed production, it creates income and empowerment opportunities for the people; unemployed educated youths can easily create a great income and employment opportunity by raising poultry commercially.
Since there will always be a demand for it in the society. So therefore, business of this type can be viable in many locations across the world, with everything said I will like to strongly recommend people and the world as a whole to venture into poultry farming.