Feed prices take toll on Cameroon’s poultry industry

Cameroon’s poultry industry is predicted to take a heavy blow in the upcoming months, as increasing feed costs take a toll on production.

Chicken production is feared to fall drastically due to a lack of sufficient corn to produce feed, officials from the country’s industry body have said.

Poultry prices have been forced upwards by 10-15% and protests from consumers are feared. A nationwide uprising in 2008 was in part also due to scarcity and high prices of corn and poultry products.

With, corn production predicted to be 1.6 million metrics tonnes as opposed to the expected 1.8 million tonnes, some poultry farmers are already abandoning the sector to avoid losing costs on birds that won’t reach the market.

In 2009 Cameroons annual output was 3.6 million heads.