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Poultry Markets in West Africa: Nigeria

EPAR RESEARCH BRIEF #87

Mon, 06/14/2010

AUTHORS: Katherine Killebrew, Robert Plotnick, Mary Kay Gugerty

ABSTRACT: 

This report provides an overview of poultry market trends in Nigeria as compared to the wider West African region. As a member of the Economic Community of West African States, Nigeria complies with most Common External Tariff (CET) measures, which facilitates an influx of cheap poultry imports from Europe.  The country adopted a ban on poultry imports in 2002 to reduce competition from foreign producers. However, illegal imports continue to enter via land borders. The primary sources for this analysis are the 2006 FAO-Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) poultry sector review and the Pro-Poor Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Risk Reduction group’s 2008 review of Nigeria. We find that poultry keeping is ubiquitous in Nigeria’s rural areas and is increasingly common among peri-urban and urban households as a way to supplement income and increase access to protein. The commercial sector is comprised of operations at a range of sizes, including large-scale, vertically integrated facilities. We find that demand for poultry is rising and is expected to continue increasing as Nigeria’s economy grows. At all levels in the sector, the country’s poultry farmers have opportunities to expand production in response to rising demand.

EPAR’s Poultry Markets in West Africa series provides an overview of poultry market trends across West Africa and compares the opportunities for poultry sector development in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Sierra Leone. The accompanying briefs in this series provide country-specific detailed poultry market analyses. The primary resources for these analyses included many reports prepared in response to the Avian Influenza epidemic, which may explain some of the emphasis on the importance of biosecurity in the available literature. We find that the West African poultry sector faces high production costs, safety concerns due to lack of sanitary controls, and technical constraints in processing and marketing. In addition to biological issues, the lack of breeders, marketing, and processing technology present technical constraints to poultry sector growth. 

See also:

EPAR Research Brief #82: Poultry Markets in West Africa: Overview & Comparative Analysis

EPAR Research Brief #83: Poultry Markets in West Africa: Ghana

EPAR Research Brief #84: Poultry Markets in West Africa: Burkina Faso

EPAR Research Brief #85: Poultry Markets in West Africa: Mali

EPAR Research Brief #86: Poultry Markets in West Africa: Senegal

EPAR Research Brief #88: Poultry Markets in West Africa: Côte d’Ivoire

EPAR Research Brief #89: Poultry Markets in West Africa: Niger

EPAR Research Brief #91: Poultry Markets in West Africa: Benin

EPAR Research Brief #92: Poultry Markets in West Africa: Sierra Leone

TYPE OF RESEARCH: Research Brief

RESEARCH TOPIC CATEGORY: Sustainable Agriculture & Rural Livelihoods, Market & Value Chain Analysis

GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS: West Africa Region and Selected Countries

Downloadable Documents

Research Brief