Chicken Meat Processing: A Great Opportunity in Nigeria

Are you aware that there is a goldmine opportunity in the Nigerian poultry industry? This opportunity has been there for long. It’s just that many people are not observant enough to see it. So I will be using this article to reveal this opportunity to you, and please, take action!

Sincerely, this is a very reliable and viable business in the poultry industry. This business opportunity is poultry meat production. I am sure you are aware that frozen chicken and turkey meat were massively imported into Nigeria some years back. As a matter of fact, we still have some imported frozen meat foods in the country even after they have been termed contrabands. Finding them in our market shows they were smuggled, but people still buy them.

The truth is that the massive smuggling and consumption of frozen chicken or turkey meats is an indication that there is a vast gap between the local production and foreign production of processed poultry meat, and this gap needs to be closed or bridged.

Did you know that some of these frozen foods are preserved with formalin? Here is a news article on this. Formalin is very dangerous to living organisms, which includes humans. So eating food items that contain formalin is like signing one’s death warrant. Health scientists have also discovered that formalin and other toxic substances used in preserving these frozen meats are carcinogenic, and they can cause kidney and liver disease.

Have you ever asked why most Nigerians prefer buying frozen meats, especially chicken and turkey meat? The reasons include:

1. Buying frozen chicken or turkey saves them from the stress involved in slaughtering and processing live chickens or turkeys. Some people are afraid of killing live animals due to reasons that are best known to them.
2. It is very easy to access frozen foods item in Nigeria because they are readily available in supermarkets, stores, and even in mini-markets within residential areas.

These are good reasons, but I have one good observation. These imported frozen food items are cheaper than the ones produced locally, but they are not safe and nutritious like the ones produced within the country. Yes, they are cheaper, but some consumers have never thought of it that local frozen chicken meats are more nutritious and safe to human health. However, when the side effects of consuming these toxin-containing frozen foods manifest, they will spend a lot of money on treating illnesses and diseases owing to the chemicals they had ingested.

How can you take advantage of this great investment opportunity and bridge the gap? You can take advantage of this opportunity by either:

1. Establishing your poultry farm where you will be raising broilers and turkeys, slaughter and process them when they are matured, package the processed meats, store them in good freezers and sell them to consumers;
2. Buy live mature chickens or turkeys from a poultry farmer, slaughter and process them, package and store them in a good freezer and sell them to consumers; or
3. Be a distributor or retailer of the already processed and packaged product and sell to consumers in the market.

I want you to know that options 1 and 2 require a high capital as you will need to buy slaughtering and de-feathering machines, and meat packaging and storage facilities. You may also need to plan your marketing strategies, which should include how you will convince people to buy locally processed chicken or turkey meat rather than the imported ones regardless of the market price.

The good news is that people are already knowing the truth and the government is also helpful in stopping the importation of frozen chickens or turkeys into the country. This gives room for the local producers to sell their products to the consumers without the fear of losing sales to imported products. Additionally, as investors increase, the price of frozen chickens or turkeys will decrease and becomes affordable to Nigerians.

Once again, this is a good business that both local and foreign investors can invest in. Graduates, civil servants, public and private firms can invest in this business. It is also an avenue to create more jobs.

Frozen chicken or turkey business is a business that can change your financial status for better and make you an employer of labor. Conduct your research as well as a feasibility survey. Since our local meat processing industry has a higher probability of becoming successful, investing in locally produced poultry meat is never a bad idea.