AlaskaDenise
In Memoriam
http://www.thetidenews.com/article.aspx?qrDate=11/28/2006&qrTitle=After%20the%20bird%20flu%20saga...&qrColumn=FEATURES
<TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>http://www.thetidenews.com/repRec.aspx?qrName=? Tuesday, Nov 28, 2006</TD></TR><TR><TD>
Poultry, the business of rearing birds for both domestic and commercial purposes, is one business that has sustained many homes over the years, especially in the western part of the country.
Many retirees of companies and public services have found solace in this business as it keeps them fully engaged hence filling up the vacuum their new state of joblessness had created.
For people in this part of the country, poultry business is not really being practiced as it is done in the western Nigeria due largely to distance from the source of raw materials.
However, the few who are into poultry farming here in Rivers State, would tell you that given a conducive atmosphere of business, poultry farming is a venture worth undertaking.
Prior to the bid flu scare in Nigeria, the farmers in Rivers State only had the problem of breaking even, given the ?give-away? price at which their counterparts from the western Nigeria sell their products to users within, since they enjoy a lower cost of production due to their nearness to the source of raw material.
Of course, Port Harcourt became a dumping ground for eggs from Ibadan, Owerri, Onitsha and beyond. Farmers from these areas bothered less about cash but were interested in disposing their products to avoid accumulation in their farms since they are largely mega farmers who receive intermittent loans from their state governments as incentive. The highest market price for a standard crate of egg at this period was N420 while farmers sold at the rate of N360.
The situation worsened with the announcement of bird flu incidence first at Kaduna followed by other places. This was on February 8 2006. During this period, consumers and users of poultry products avoided poultry products like a plague and the business plummeted to an all time low. Poultry farmers also counted their losses.
First, farmers recorded great loss as eggs accumulated and wasted unused. Those who depended largely on the sale of eggs to feed their laying and yet-to-lay birds, watched their flocks suffer starvation and subsequent death in their numbers. Mrs. Sylvia ThankGod, a poultry farmer in Port Harcourt estimated her total loss in eggs and bird at more than N800,000.00.
Feed sellers were not also left out as they hardly made a tenth of the sales they used to make before bird flu scare. Hatcheries too, like Zartech, Amo byen and the likes drowned their day-old-chicks as there was virtually no market again for them.
The measures adopted by the federal and state governments aimed at halting the spread of bird flu became another source of frustration to most poultry farmers.
The government decided to slaughter all birds found within a certain radius where there is a reported incidence of bird flu. In other cases, the birds were quarantined. These measures raised the issue of compensation.
Government, though, estimated the cost of the birds and made efforts at compensating the farmers. Most of the farmers complained that either the compensation was short of the cost of the birds or they were too slow in getting to them to enable them get back to business.
Subsequently, the business dwindled to a point where only few people who needed eggs for baking purposes patronised the farmers.
According to Mr. Folake Idowu, a baker, ?it was only the knowledge gap between consumers of baked food and the producers that saved the bakery industry.? He explained that most consumers of baked food did not realise that egg was a regular component of baked food.
For him, it was this knowledge gap that saved bakers of the agony of bird flu.
It is worthy of note that the highest market price at which a crate of egg sold in Port Harcourt and environs was N250 while the farm rate was as low as N100.00 and this was a fortune for some privileged farmers.
It is also interesting to know that many farmers rather than watch their poultry business crumble without any form of compensation, resorted to crying wolf where there was none.
They invited the inter-ministerial committee set up by the government to come and detect bird flu in their farms just to have some compensation. They saw it as a lee way out of the economic disaster imposed by the bird flu scare.
In the words of Mr. Tolofari Kpagha, ?the bird flu scare was catching Nigerians especially in Rivers State more than the flu itself.?
No doubt, poultry farmers in Rivers State were not only discouraged but also disillusioned.
When the news of bird flu finally died down, with authorities who understand the working of the flu calling on individuals and corporate bodies to go ahead and eat their well-cooked poultry products, only a handful of farmer could still be spotted partially standing.
Today, patronage for poultry product is beginning to regain momentum. Again, Mrs. ThankGod says that within a few weeks of the restoration of consumers? confidence, demand is far outstripping supply. Only those who had access to fund could resuscitate their birds which had hitherto stopped laying due to poor feeding.
Farmers who no longer have birds, in the first place are not in a hurry to restock for fear of being fooled a second time.
On the other hand, the birds for restocking are almost extinct due to lack of patronage in the hatcheries.
A few hatcheries that had some day-old-chicks for sale, kept it at exorbitant price thereby making it only affordable to a few.
The resultant effect of all these is a short supply of poultry product against increasing demand in which case price is affected, though in the favour of the farmers. For the first time in the history of poultry business in this part of the country, a piece of egg sells for N25.00 as farmers even sell a crate for N550.00.
While some egg consumers say they have put the bird flu saga behind them and gone back to their normal egg consumption pattern, others say that they now consume egg sparingly pending when their confidence will be fully restored that egg is totally safe for consumption.
For Mr. Chris Okoro, a businessman, ?one can get any disease from anywhere but I was so scared that I placed a total ban on egg and chicken in my house during that period which, I lifted just recently.
Mr. Ana Uzor a Port Harcourt resident said though she was a bit scared and was forced to stop including poultry products in her family?s menu all that have been put behind us now.
?My major problem now is that the prices of chicken and egg have gone up. They are no longer as affordable as before.?
While the consumers? confidence can be said to have been restored to a high degree, it is not so with investors in poultry business. For Mr. Larry Korie, ?I have learnt not to put all my eggs in one basket. If I now have N100 to invest in poultry, I will prefer to invest N30.00 elsewhere.? We may not have heard the last story on bird flu but certainly, Nigerians as dogged as they have ever been are putting the saga behind them to carry on with their normal life.
.
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<TABLE width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>http://www.thetidenews.com/repRec.aspx?qrName=? Tuesday, Nov 28, 2006</TD></TR><TR><TD>
Poultry, the business of rearing birds for both domestic and commercial purposes, is one business that has sustained many homes over the years, especially in the western part of the country.
Many retirees of companies and public services have found solace in this business as it keeps them fully engaged hence filling up the vacuum their new state of joblessness had created.
For people in this part of the country, poultry business is not really being practiced as it is done in the western Nigeria due largely to distance from the source of raw materials.
However, the few who are into poultry farming here in Rivers State, would tell you that given a conducive atmosphere of business, poultry farming is a venture worth undertaking.
Prior to the bid flu scare in Nigeria, the farmers in Rivers State only had the problem of breaking even, given the ?give-away? price at which their counterparts from the western Nigeria sell their products to users within, since they enjoy a lower cost of production due to their nearness to the source of raw material.
Of course, Port Harcourt became a dumping ground for eggs from Ibadan, Owerri, Onitsha and beyond. Farmers from these areas bothered less about cash but were interested in disposing their products to avoid accumulation in their farms since they are largely mega farmers who receive intermittent loans from their state governments as incentive. The highest market price for a standard crate of egg at this period was N420 while farmers sold at the rate of N360.
The situation worsened with the announcement of bird flu incidence first at Kaduna followed by other places. This was on February 8 2006. During this period, consumers and users of poultry products avoided poultry products like a plague and the business plummeted to an all time low. Poultry farmers also counted their losses.
First, farmers recorded great loss as eggs accumulated and wasted unused. Those who depended largely on the sale of eggs to feed their laying and yet-to-lay birds, watched their flocks suffer starvation and subsequent death in their numbers. Mrs. Sylvia ThankGod, a poultry farmer in Port Harcourt estimated her total loss in eggs and bird at more than N800,000.00.
Feed sellers were not also left out as they hardly made a tenth of the sales they used to make before bird flu scare. Hatcheries too, like Zartech, Amo byen and the likes drowned their day-old-chicks as there was virtually no market again for them.
The measures adopted by the federal and state governments aimed at halting the spread of bird flu became another source of frustration to most poultry farmers.
The government decided to slaughter all birds found within a certain radius where there is a reported incidence of bird flu. In other cases, the birds were quarantined. These measures raised the issue of compensation.
Government, though, estimated the cost of the birds and made efforts at compensating the farmers. Most of the farmers complained that either the compensation was short of the cost of the birds or they were too slow in getting to them to enable them get back to business.
Subsequently, the business dwindled to a point where only few people who needed eggs for baking purposes patronised the farmers.
According to Mr. Folake Idowu, a baker, ?it was only the knowledge gap between consumers of baked food and the producers that saved the bakery industry.? He explained that most consumers of baked food did not realise that egg was a regular component of baked food.
For him, it was this knowledge gap that saved bakers of the agony of bird flu.
It is worthy of note that the highest market price at which a crate of egg sold in Port Harcourt and environs was N250 while the farm rate was as low as N100.00 and this was a fortune for some privileged farmers.
It is also interesting to know that many farmers rather than watch their poultry business crumble without any form of compensation, resorted to crying wolf where there was none.
They invited the inter-ministerial committee set up by the government to come and detect bird flu in their farms just to have some compensation. They saw it as a lee way out of the economic disaster imposed by the bird flu scare.
In the words of Mr. Tolofari Kpagha, ?the bird flu scare was catching Nigerians especially in Rivers State more than the flu itself.?
No doubt, poultry farmers in Rivers State were not only discouraged but also disillusioned.
When the news of bird flu finally died down, with authorities who understand the working of the flu calling on individuals and corporate bodies to go ahead and eat their well-cooked poultry products, only a handful of farmer could still be spotted partially standing.
Today, patronage for poultry product is beginning to regain momentum. Again, Mrs. ThankGod says that within a few weeks of the restoration of consumers? confidence, demand is far outstripping supply. Only those who had access to fund could resuscitate their birds which had hitherto stopped laying due to poor feeding.
Farmers who no longer have birds, in the first place are not in a hurry to restock for fear of being fooled a second time.
On the other hand, the birds for restocking are almost extinct due to lack of patronage in the hatcheries.
A few hatcheries that had some day-old-chicks for sale, kept it at exorbitant price thereby making it only affordable to a few.
The resultant effect of all these is a short supply of poultry product against increasing demand in which case price is affected, though in the favour of the farmers. For the first time in the history of poultry business in this part of the country, a piece of egg sells for N25.00 as farmers even sell a crate for N550.00.
While some egg consumers say they have put the bird flu saga behind them and gone back to their normal egg consumption pattern, others say that they now consume egg sparingly pending when their confidence will be fully restored that egg is totally safe for consumption.
For Mr. Chris Okoro, a businessman, ?one can get any disease from anywhere but I was so scared that I placed a total ban on egg and chicken in my house during that period which, I lifted just recently.
Mr. Ana Uzor a Port Harcourt resident said though she was a bit scared and was forced to stop including poultry products in her family?s menu all that have been put behind us now.
?My major problem now is that the prices of chicken and egg have gone up. They are no longer as affordable as before.?
While the consumers? confidence can be said to have been restored to a high degree, it is not so with investors in poultry business. For Mr. Larry Korie, ?I have learnt not to put all my eggs in one basket. If I now have N100 to invest in poultry, I will prefer to invest N30.00 elsewhere.? We may not have heard the last story on bird flu but certainly, Nigerians as dogged as they have ever been are putting the saga behind them to carry on with their normal life.
.
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