GULU– Commercial poultry keepers in Gulu district are grappling with the high prices of feeds, with some saying they have scaled down their business.
According to the farmers, the price of feeds has almost doubled. Currently, a kilogramme of chic mash costs Shs 2,940, unlike in the past when it sold at Shs 1,600.
On the other hand, the price for growers’ feeds is Shs 2,640, per kilogramme while a kilogramme of feeds for mature chicken [ready for sale] is Shs 2,420.
Joyce Kananura Okumu, who has been in the poultry business for nine years, says many farmers have reduced on the number of birds kept since feeding them has remained a big challenge.
“Unlike the local free-range chicken, these improved chicken feed on varieties of feeds that must be bought. As we talk now the prices are skyrocketing all the time,’’ she said.
There are some farmers who have closed their poultry enterprises for now as they wait for the prices to reduce, she said.
Nicholas Lakony, who has been keeping more than 5,000 birds, is fearful that farmers will deliver underfed chicken on the market, as they cannot afford the required quantities of feed given the high prices.
“Some farmers already had contracts with big hotels and if you cannot produce quality, you might lose the business,’’ he said.
However, Augustine Luzindana, who deals in feeds, said the scarcity of maize in the region is to blame for the rising prices.
“Major manufacturing factories have inadequate soya-bean and maize bran yet these ingredients are key in making chicken feeds,’’ he told theCooperator.
He added that South Sudan which also depends on food from Uganda is equally to blame for the scarcity of maize.
He says there is need to have silos in place so that what is produced can be stored for future use.
Some of the chicken feeds are Maize bran, rice bran, cotton seed cake, wheat bran, palm kernel cake, groundnut cake and ‘mukene’ [silver fish].
https://thecooperator.news/high-fuel-prices-hit-gulu-farmers-hard-as-some-fail-to-open-up-farmlands/
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