The growth of the poultry industry and increased demand for higher quality, safe and wholesome products are encouraging farms to employ automation technology. This has led to larger farms, such as Olam grains, using technology to run leaner, cleaner and profitable operations, reports DANIEL ESSIET.
Nigeria appears to have witnessed a boom in poultry farming with thousands of chicken houses sprouting up as consumers’ demand for poultry grows. These days, poultries and chicken cages occupy any available space in urban and rural areas.
One of those who have grabbed the opportunity is Stephen Oladipupo, an ex-seafarer, who is a small-scale poultry farmer in Ogun State. He has seen how rural poultry farming can provide livelihood and food security.
Running a farm near Sango Ota in Ogun State has helped him to drive around to notice that chicken houses dot the hills and flatlands of the agrarian state. Occasionally, he reacts to the stench from most of the farms, and the dirt they generate, tagging them as part of the challenges small-scale farmers face.
However, a new wave of automation is taking away such smells, providing a clean environment. Indeed, poultry farming is set on a course of modernisation to achieve economies of scale as indicated by the pick-up in investments and environmental control houses.
In an automated farm, the rearing duration of each flock is reduced from 45 to 30 days to mitigate the challenges being faced, thereby saving time and energy. In addition, chicks get a controlled environment right from diet, air, water, medicines, and are handled by veterinary doctors in a sophisticated manner. The birds gain more weight than those kept in small pens, experts said.
Indeed, the changing landscape in the industry is leading to an increase in mega farms. The farms are using automation to address operational challenges of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the industry.
One of such farms is Olam Integrated Poultry Farm and Feed Mill. The farm is located in Chikpiri Gabas Village, Gwagwada District, Chikun Local Government Area, Kaduna State. The farm is worth $150 million (about N30 billion).
Dr. Vinod Kumar Mishra, who supervises the farm, said the farm has the capacity to produce four billion eggs and 100 million kilogrammes of poultry meat for Nigerians yearly – an equivalent of 25 eggs and 0.5 kg of chicken per person.
Mishra, who is also the Business Head, Animal Protein, Olam Grains, said new technology has a place within poultry units and the organisation is reaping huge advantages using it.
He explained that the automatic chain feeding for rearing and management of broiler and layer breeder chicks has ushered a new era into the industry.
With its automated system, Mishra said the farms can see how mortality develops and compare mortality between flocks, as well as customise tracking of humidity, water consumption, and static pressure.
Bio-security procedures
The major challenge for farmers, according to him, was ensuring that the quality of eggs is safe, disease-free and healthy.
To prevent diseases, he said the company has engaged veterinary practitioners to manage their farms.
He said they will be responsible for safe, hygienic, nutritious and healthy broilers, and day old eggs
According to Mishra, the farm has not taken any chances with its chickens and the current scare of bird flu. To him, the farm is taking advantage of the latest technology to protect its birds.
The company, he said, has built a new breeder facility at a significant distance from the company’s other operations, mainly for biosecurity reasons.
According to him, the new system has members of staff go through bio-security procedures once and then have safe access to the entire barn system. In addition, the facility has a dry shower and other additional measures to keep foreign organisms away from the barn-on both the brood/grow side as well as lay barn side.
Upon arrival at the farm, according to him, staffers and any visitors must enter the dry shower facility, which requires individuals to change out of street clothes into farm clothing and footwear.
Mishra said although the facility came at a significant cost, the company felt that the investment in the facility was the next step in bio-security for both customers and members of staff.
Producing modern chicken
He said the integrated project included animal feed producing factory, animal treatment and vaccination centre, adding that birds enjoy good standards as they are under high health and welfare automated farms.
According to him, the farm uses Cobb 500 broiler, a breed of chicken known for its reproductive and broiler performance. Cobb 500’s performance traits, he said, include feed conversion, growth rate, meat yield, and livability, while welfare traits include cardiovascular fitness, skeletal structure, leg strength, feather coverage and gait.
Farmers, he said, are in a position to access to the best of breeds in terms of quality production.
Empowerment
Mishra also announced that his organisation is establishing a cluster poultry farm to be owned by 25 to 30 farmers and employ between 250 and 300 people, adding that his organisation would train local farmers on best poultry practices through 15 field veterinarians.
According to him, the farm will recruit fresh graduates of veterinary medicine as farm attendants from various universities through their faculties of veterinary medicine, adding that about 100 veterinary doctors are being targetted to undergo training on poultry production.
Vice President, Corporate and Govrnment Relations, Olam Nigeria, Mr. Ade Adefeko, said the integrated poultry farm and animal feed mill will use about 180,000 tonnes of corn and 75,000 tonnes of soya beans.
According to him, the 50,000 metric tonnes of on-site storage, in addition to a similar capacity of outsourced storage, will support food security and price stabilisation for farmers, adding that training on farming practices will be offered to farmers in collaboration with Federal, state and non-governmental agencies to increase farm yields and crop profitability.
He said over one million high-quality layers (for eggs) and broilers (for meat) are be produced weekly.
He said the feed mill will have capacity of 300,000 tonnes yearly to offer competitively-priced and specially formulated feeds for local poultry farmers.
