Description

Animal feed are required for the proper development of livestock and depending on the type of livestock and the stage of production of the livestock some of the raw materials required in animal feed production includes maize, whole wheat, oyster shells, bone meal, meat meal, blood meal, fish meal, Soya cake, groundnut cake, palm kernel cake and a host of others.

Bone meal is a mixture of crushed and coarsely ground bones that is used as an organic fertilizer for plants and in animal feed. As a slow-release fertilizer, bone meal is primarily used as a source of phosphorus.

As a fertilizer, the N-P-K ratio of bone meal is generally 4-12-0, though some steamed bone meals have N-P-Ks of 1-13-0. Bone meal is also an excellent organic source of calcium.

Organic fertilizers usually require the use of microbes/bacteria in the soil in order to make the nutrients in the fertilizer bio-available. That can result in irregular release of phosphorus/calcium. But in most cases, some meat can be deliberately left on the bone so that they can be processed for use in animal feed production and at such while bone meals are mostly used as fertilizers and meat and bone meals are most used in the preparation of animal feeds.

Meat and bone meal (MBM) is a product of the rendering industry. It is typically about 50% protein, 35% ash, 8-12% fat, and 4-7% moisture. It is primarily used in the formulation of animal feed to improve the amino acid profile of the feed.

Meat and bone meal has around two thirds the energy values of fossil fuels such as coal; the UK particular widely uses meat and bone meal for the generation of renewable electricity.

Nigeria, with a population of about 160 million people is grossly underprovided with an essential food component, protein. For example, data from the FOS, CBN, and FAO indicate that from cattle, less than 2kg of beef is available to an average Nigerian per year and just mere 4kg of eggs per annum is available to each Nigerian. In fact, milk production has been nose diving or at best has remained constant since 1994.

This scenario is compounded more so when the volume of egg supply is very low, being 10.56g per person per day as compared with the usual recommendation that an egg should be consumed by an adult per day. This recommendation would imply a crate of 30 eggs per month. This story also holds for other meat products including, chicken.

To ameliorate this problem of low-level of protein intake, massive investment is required in animal feed production which consumes about 70% of the cost of poultry production.

The market for animal feeds in Nigeria is large, expanding and sustainable hence driving the need for bone and meat meals and the materials can be sourced from abattoirs across Nigeria, processed and packaged and sold to willing, ready and able buyers.

This report examines the financial viability of establishing a bone meal processing plant in Nigeria. The estimated production capacity of the plant is 1,920 tons of bone meal per annum working for 8 hours per day at 80% of the installed capacity.