By Elizabeth Adegbesan
There is no complete celebration of Christmas and New Year without chicken on the plate of rice of every Nigerian celebrant.
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This special reason makes many Nigerians, poultry and non-poultry farmers, pour into chicken rearing once yuletide draws close.
However, this yuletide, Economy & Lifestyle discovered hopes of such business people were dashed as celebrants, almost in unison, rejected Chicken for Christmas due to the usual high prices.
Most celebrants subscribed to beef and fish for the season. Their reason was because the price of chicken was out of the reach of the common man as the economy is still dealing a death blow on average families.
But many poultry farmers who spoke to us, complained that the high cost of chicken feed, was the reason the cost of a matured chicken reach N30,000.
They also expressed disappointment in the prices customers were willing to pay for a chicken.
Poultry farmer
Mr. George Immafidon, a poultry farmer, said: “I used N300,000 to buy chicken feed for my birds within the space of a month. I pegged each of my chickens at the rate of N25,000, and customers were pricing it between N10,000 and N15,000. Only a few bought at that fixed price. No matter how much you explained, they were saying that the cost of food items have dropped now. Why is your chicken this expensive?
“Some situations will make you regret venturing into this business most times. How do I explain to every customer that chicken feed is expensive? Some farmers had to borrow money to buy chicken feed with the hope of paying back as soon as they sold their chickens.”
Mr. Elias Akhigbe, a businessman, who tried poultry business because of the season expressed regrets for trying it.
“If I had known, I would have not invested in the poultry business. Customers are just pricing it anyhow as if they don’t know how much chicken feed costs. I would have used the capital for my business.
“Out of 50 chickens, I was able to sell only ten. I just sold the rest at a lesser price with little or no gain. I will never invest into such a business in life again. Those full-time poultry farmers are trying. How do they cope with the increasing cost of feed and other maintenance costs.”
Frozen
Even the frozen chicken and turkey sellers were not left out of this dilemma. Mrs. Yemisi Olorogun, a frozen food seller, said: “Before the festive season, a full chicken was sold at N9,000 to N10,000 depending on its size.
“During the festive season, it came to N13,000 to N15,000 from the cold room. Some people sold at N16,000 to N17,000 during Christmas and today.
“Before New Year’s Eve, it might get to N20,000. But the patronage was very low compared to last year. People priced ridiculously.
“It wasn’t funny. Some will lift it up, assess it, and conclude that it is not worth the price, and then they will drop it and leave.
“They ask for ice fish and move to the shade of meat sellers to buy meat instead. But some Nigerians were very lucky to have live chicken sold to them at a subsidized rate of N3,500 to N5,000 in some states and local governments.”
The post Yuletide: ‘Say no to Chicken’, almost a Christmas chorus due to poor economy appeared first on Vanguard News.
