Abstract:
Investigation of problems and prospects of poultry ventures in Lagos State is the subject of this study. The closure of many renown poultry farms in the state is one of the principal factors that motivated the research. Lagos State was divided into seven agricultural zones. The data were collected using a three tier methodological approach of questionnaire
administration, unstructured oral interview and non-participant observation. The analysis which followed was done using the two-way Analysis of Variance. Poultry farmers in Lagos concentrated mainly on poultry alone except for a few that combined crop production with poultry, The choice of about 80% of these farmers centred on raising layers for table-egg production. Some combined broiler production(meat production) in their operation. The cage system of operation was commonly adopted and mostly 70% of the farmers used open sided buildings. The major problems encountered by farmers in Lagos State were high feed cost and disease prevalence. While the problem of feed revolved round the
cost of the feed which was generally considered to be expensive. by most farmers, diseases such as gomboro, fowl pox and coccidiosis were 30% in the state. Drugs. to combat these diseases were generally expensive to purchase. Although labour was relatively cheap and easily available, their remuneration was low. This was possibly responsible for various vices practised by the poultry workers. Such vices included stealing and laziness at work. Between 40% and 50% of poultry products were marketed through open markets and farm gate sales and demand was adequate and encouraging.
Despite all the predicaments befalling the poultry venture, there existed prospects for the business in Lagos State.
