Everybody Loves Chicken Wings

Hey, Hannatu here 👋

Africa is home to 2.4 billion chickens. 

That's roughly two birds for every person on the continent. 

Nigerians eat about 89 million chickens monthly. South Africans eat 100 million. Kenyans eat about 50 million. 

Despite this demand, only 30% of the chickens consumed in Africa come from local farmers.

Cold chain freezers are packed with imported chicken. 

People love chicken, but don’t buy from local farmers.

So what's going wrong?

Before we tell you the answer, we’ve got something for everyone in the agritech space. 👇🏾

Grace is a poultry farmer in Abuja. For her first ever batch, she bought 100 birds. 

In two months, half her flock was dead. 

Many other poultry farmers can sympathise with Grace. 

Disease outbreaks regularly wipe out entire farms. A single case of Newcastle disease - a respiratory disease - can kill 90% of unvaccinated birds within days.

Farmers like Grace watch their investments die in front of them.

But disease is just one part of their troubles.

Feed accounts for 60 to 70% of production costs. 

A 25kg bag of quality feed costs anywhere from $17 to $19. For smallholder farmers raising 500 to 1,000 birds, that's a crushing expense. 

Many resort to cheap, low-quality alternatives like chaff, which don’t have the same amount of nutrients. 

Then there's the market problem, mostly defined by access.

Most of the chicken consumed is distributed via large cold-chain networks. 

But most local poultry farmers are locked out of it. They have to compete against big-time importers who have scale, capital, and access.

So, even when they manage a healthy harvest, they settle for low prices. Or nothing at all. 

In the meantime, frozen imports flood urban stores to meet that demand. 

With high costs, high mortality, and low prices, many farmers, like Grace, give up after their first flock.

But a new generation of startups doesn’t want that story to keep repeating. They think tech can turn… 

Three Nigerian startups think there's a better way. 

They're using technology to fix what's broken in poultry farming.

First, there's the money problem.

Farmers don’t just lose birds. They lose money.

And when they ask for loans, banks almost always say no. They’re too risky, too unpredictable.

Vetsark flips that script. 

Its app helps farmers track the details banks care about - feed, mortality, medicine, even call records and purchase history. 

With that data, lenders stop seeing a faceless “risky farmer” and start seeing a borrower who can actually repay.

For farmers like Grace, it means she no longer needs to beg for capital. She shows her numbers. And the bank listens.

Next, there's the supply chain headache.

Ayo Oyedotun knows the importance of quality input. 

In 2015, his poultry farm suffered a disease outbreak that cost him millions. 

After that, he knew he wanted to help other farmers access quality vaccines, drugs, and healthy birds. 

That decision became Afrimash.

The company’s first product? Nipple drinkers for chickens, launched in May 2016.

At the time, farmers were buying them at inflated prices from middlemen. 

Afrimash sold directly and shaved 10% off feed costs for small farmers.

Then came the marketplace.

Afrimash turned “picking up chicks” into a science. 

Farmers order from their phones. No long trips to crowded markets, no guessing games

Afrimash reaches them through agent networks, WhatsApp and USSD, bringing vaccines, healthy day-old chicks and inputs straight to the village.

Today, Afrimash has delivered over a million items to farmers across Nigeria.

For Grace, it means she can order chicks and inputs without leaving the farm, and stop gambling her livelihood on middlemen.

Finally, there's the market access challenge.

Pullus tackled the hardest problem of all. 

How do you connect village farmers to urban buyers?

This challenge hits women especially hard. 

Women make up the bulk of smallholder farmers across Africa. They put in more labour but often have less access to profitable markets.

Opeoluwa Fayomi, Pullus's female co-founder, deeply gets this problem. 

Their digital platform links poultry farmers directly to restaurants, retailers, and processors. No selling below cost to local traders.

The platform handles logistics, payment, and quality assurance. Farmers focus on raising healthy birds. Buyers get fresh, quality poultry.

For Grace, Pullus gives her predictability: markets that will buy, payments that arrive, and insight into exactly how her farm is doing.

So Grace doesn’t just raise chickens. She runs a business with guaranteed customers.

These changes aren't just about chicken. They're about transforming African agriculture.

Poultry is one of Africa's most popular protein sources. It's affordable, nutritious, and culturally accepted everywhere. Unlike beef or pork, it has no religious restrictions.

The market opportunity is massive. 

Nigeria's poultry industry is worth over $4.2 billion annually. With the right support, local farmers could capture more of this value.

Young people often see farming as backwards. Old-fashioned. Something their grandparents did.

These tech platforms are changing that perception. Farming becomes modern. Data-driven. Profitable.

They’re not just selling chicken feed; they’re selling a future of agriculture that is convenient and profitable. 

Most importantly, they’re showing how tech can impact something as sticky to us as chicken wings. 

Grace, the farmer we met earlier, is trying again.

This time, she's using all three platforms.

Vetsark will help her secure a loan. Afrimash will deliver quality feed and equipment to her, with 100% money-back guarantee. Pullus connects her to a hotel chain that will buy her birds at good prices.

Her new flock will thrive. Mortality will go down as she has a healthier breed. She’ll finally make it to the big markets. And profit margins will double.

For the first time, she can feel like a real businesswoman. Not just someone who feeds chickens and hopes for the best.

Do you think tech can make the best happen for Grace?

What other platforms are helping farmers get their ducks in a row?

👉🏾Tell us here.

Cheers,