High production costs is threatening to push poultry farmers out of business, the Kenya Broilers Breeders Association (KBBA) has warned. Muiruri Mbuthi, the KBBA co-ordinator, said the high cost of electricity, fuel and chicken feed had battered the sector to its lowest profitability ever.
"Within the past six months, the cost of chicken feed has gone up by 50 per cent Prices of electricity and fuels to warm the chicks have also become erratic," he said during a farmers' field day in Ruiru town, Kiambu County.
An acute shortage of one-day old chicks in Kenya is also adding to the farmers' woes, says Mr Mbuthi, adding that farmers have to place orders and wait for up to six months for deliveries.
"This is a crisis. There is an acute shortage and when available, the chicks are going for as much as Sh90 as opposed to the Sh50 six months ago, forcing farmers to import from Uganda," he said.
Middlemen in the marketing chain as well as unscrupulous feed dealers who are selling substandard products have been blamed for increasing poultry diseases.
The Ministry of Livestock Development said the government was aware of the situation and would come up with a poultry policy that will address subsidies, standardisation mechanisms, treatment as well as market structures to curb losses and exploitation, animal health representative in Central Kenya region Thuo Wainaina said.
He said rising inflation had hit the sector, pushing the national cost of production to Sh4.3 billion from the past three year's average of Sh1.9 billion.
This leaves the country in an awkward position and unable to cope with global trends where poultry production is the fastest- growing meat sector, increasing 4.7 per cent in 2010 to 98 million tonnes this year. According to the Economic Survey 2010, farmers produced 23,000 tonnes of chicken in 2009 which was a drop from 2008's 24,000 tonnes.
Chicken consumption
He said the policy will likely be implemented by March next year hence with results expected by July.
In the meantime, he urged Kenyans to increase their consumption of chicken to create a ready local market for the breeders. He said on average one Kenyan consumes half a kilo of chicken per year which compares poorly with South Africans where they eat an average of 38 kilogrammes.
"If you raise that consumption to at least five kilogrammes, the market that will be created will be huge enough and will cushion the breeders from effects of a restricted market," he said. The poultry's sub-sector contributes an estimated 1.7 per cent of the livestock sector's GDP where 21 million people rely on it for a livelihood.
According to the recent National Population Census report, Kenya is home to 32 million chickens of which 76 per cent are free-range indigenous chicken, 14 per cent are commercial layers, and eight per cent are broilers. The remaining two per cent is made up of duck, turkey, quail and other birds.
On poultry diseases, Ministry of Livestock Development Permanent Secretary Kenneth Lusaka in speech read by Mr Wainaina, said the sector would ge a reprieve once a more reliable coccidiosis jab is launched.
He described the disease as terminal if not controlled and remains the single parasitic infection in scavenging poultry.
"It affects mostly young birds, and the most obviuos symptoms are emaciation, thirst, listlessness, ruffled plummage, bloodstained faeces and the birds attacked huddle together for warmth," he said.
Mr Lusaka said the veterinary department would partner with the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council in efforts to develop a new vaccine.
Source: Business Daily (Nairobi)
