By Babatunde Ayedoju

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The word “weather” is one that almost everybody is familiar with, whether literate or illiterate, young or old. In this part of the world, there are two major weather conditions that most people are familiar with – cold and hot.
Another word that is closely related to weather and is sometimes used interchangeably with it is climate. Many people do not even know the difference between weather and climate.
A 2017 report by National Aeronautics and Space Management Agency (NASA) Television explained that the difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere “behaves” over relatively long periods of time.
When we talk about weather, there are certain things that come to the mind, such as sunshine, rain, cloud, wind, hail, snow, flooding, thunderstorms, excessive heat, heat waves and more.
The NASA TV report further stated that in most places, weather can change from minute-to-minute, hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season. Climate, however, is the average of weather over time and space. An easy way to remember the difference is that climate is what you expect, like a very hot summer, and weather is what you get, like a hot day with pop-up thunderstorms.
Beginning from last year, the atmosphere has not been so friendly. At the middle of what should have been rainy season last year, rain suddenly stopped falling. It continued for several months, until nature decided to smile at us again.
Then year 2021 started but the rain seemed not ready to start, though it appears nature is becoming a bit lenient again with the few cases of rainfall that we have seen. Coupled with this is the very hot weather that we have been experiencing in recent time.
Obviously, the current pattern of weather has been affecting all forms of living organisms – man, plants and animals. However, the Hope was out to find out how it has affected poultry business.
A poultry farmer, Engineer Dare Aladeniyi said that the adverse weather condition has affected his poultry business. He however noted that it is not only harsh weather that has affected his business negatively, as some other factors are also involved.
His words, “Actually, so many factors have been affecting the poultry business. It’s not only the weather. Another factor is that, there is no conducive atmosphere for the poultry farmer to thrive, in the sense that the price of the feed keeps going higher. As of today, a bag of finisher is sold for N6,000 to N6,500, as against N2,000 that it was sold before. That’s about a hundred percent increase. It has really affected poultry business, in the sense that if you rear a bird until it becomes mature, you will not be able to recover the money invested in it.”
Engr. Aladeniyi said further, “Last year we had a terrific weather. As a result of that, the output of the grain was reduced drastically. Similarly, the heat that we are experiencing currently makes the birds to be dehydrated and it will affect their laying. If there is no feed and you give them water, it would still be okay. If there is no water and you give them feed, it won’t be okay.”
The seasoned poultry farmer also blamed the problem on the menace of bandits who have discouraged a lot of farmers, some of who could have cultivated maize needed for feed production, from going to farm.
According to another poultry farmer, Mrs. Adara, the weather is neither strange nor unprecedented.
She said, “It’s normal. Climatic conditions in Nigeria are two. We have the dry season and the wet season. When you are constructing your pen or house for the birds, you ought to consider the direction of the sun. These birds are cold-blooded. That is, their bodies respond or adapt to the condition of the climate. Since I knew that there would always be dry season, and knowing the expected temperature at that time, when I was constructing my pen, I made sure the roof was very high, so that no matter what the temperature is like, there will always be enough air in motion called wind for them.”
The poultry farmer who is also a secondary School teacher added, “No matter how high the temperature is, once there is wind, it will not have effect. But assuming the pen is not high enough for wind to blow, once the temperature is high, it will be choky. Even the rays of light will not enter, because when I was constructing, I considered the direction of the sun in the morning, afternoon and evening.”
Mrs. Adara added, “At this season, maize is expensive. So the price of feed is high. Also, in this season, people don’t buy much eggs. People eat eggs with yam and since yam is expensive, they will take alternatives for breakfast.
This is not a good time for farmers. Most farmers will not be in their peak in this season. Their cages will not have much birds. By June, when yam comes they will have many birds. When yam is becoming expensive, they will sell their old layers, because the demand for eggs is not much now.”
Speaking with our correspondent, Dr. Emmanuel MoyinJesu, from the Department of Agronomy, Federal College of Agriculture (FECA), Akure said, “There are several ways to look at it. The poultry business, particularly feed production, is dependent on maize. Because rain has not been falling the way it should, the production of feed is at the lowest level. The industry is facing a serious problem of high cost of feeding. Secondly, the high temperature is causing heat and is not allowing the birds to lay eggs very well, leading to poor production of eggs. It also causes diseases for the birds.”
What then could be the solution to this problem? In the words of Engineer Aladeniyi, “There is a solution but it is in the larger sphere that you can apply it. In some places, people have pens that have been built in such a way that the temperature can be regulated. So, irrespective of what the weather is like, it does not affect the birds. However, a small poultry farm may not be able to afford that.” He went further to state that government support will be helpful in that aspect.
In his own submission, Dr. MoyinJesu noted that the poultry farmers should go and look for contract farmers that can help with the production of feeds. They should as well have a storage system to address the problem of shortage.
In addition, he said that they should make their poultry cages well ventilated, so that the heat will reduce. They can also ask for palliative from the government.