Uganda -- The increased price for poultry feeds is creating fear among farmers as many cannot stand the current competition for the final products.
This has resulted from increased price of some ingredients for the feeds, especially maize.
The price for maize bran has jumped 30% to sh500 per kilogramme from sh350 in the recent past, forcing the 70kg bag of feeds for layers to shoot up from sh44,000 to sh48,000, while that for growers is at sh47,000.
The crisis has affected small scale dealers, who do not enjoy economies of scales due to limited production.
Salongo Kakeeto, a director with Mutima Poultry Feeds in Nakulongo, a city suburb, recently said the increment in the price of maize bran, which is the main ingredient for poultry feeds, has been caused by the end of the maize harvesting season in most parts of the country.
“The situation is likely to normalise as we near the next harvest season. The price for other feeds ingredients like mukene (silver fish) has stabilised at sh1,600 per kilogramme,” Kakeeto said.
Joseph Musinguzi, a dealer in poultry feeds in Kisenyi, said they were trying to explain to poultry farmers the causes of the price increment.
Poultry farmers say the increment does not correspond with the price of the final products, especially eggs, whose price has stabilised at between sh200 and sh250 each.
