Poultry bans bring benefits and challenges
The ban of poultry products from South Africa and Europe due an outbreak of bird flu enabled Namibian producers to bring their poultry meat stock levels back to normal.
The monthly demand for chicken is about 3 000 metric tonnes, of which only 1 700 metric tonnes are produced locally. Toward the end of 2020, the country experienced an increase in demand for chicken because of the high prices of red meat, including beef, mutton and venison.
This according to the chairperson of the Namibia Poultry Producers' Association, Rene Werner, who added that in terms of egg production, new day-old chicks for layers need to be from South Africa and Europe. This is stated in the Namibian Agricultural Union’s 2020/2021 annual report.
“This forced producers to once again source new suppliers from Zimbabwe or Zambia, which are both costly. Meanwhile, increases in the cost of feed continued to aggravate producers’ input costs.
“This forced both chicken meat and egg producers to re-evaluate the price of their products. Consumers undoubtedly have also felt the pinch.”
According to Werner, many potential producers are expressing interest in joining the industry, especially as broiler producers.
“Gaining access to markets remains the challenge. There is a company planning to develop mobile slaughter abattoirs and offering to buy the chicken meat from producers, or alternatively offering to slaughter on behalf of the producers.”
Turned down
The association - together with the poultry industry - took the initiative to sponsor and enable the Directorate of Veterinary Services to employ unemployed University of Namibia graduates with the aim to supply extra help at the country’s borders to control the importation of poultry products, he said.
“Unfortunately, the initiative was turned down due to logistical reasons,” Werner added.
He said an investigation into the illegal imports of poultry products undertaken in 2019 was also completed and the results are still being awaited.
The monthly demand for chicken is about 3 000 metric tonnes, of which only 1 700 metric tonnes are produced locally. Toward the end of 2020, the country experienced an increase in demand for chicken because of the high prices of red meat, including beef, mutton and venison.
This according to the chairperson of the Namibia Poultry Producers' Association, Rene Werner, who added that in terms of egg production, new day-old chicks for layers need to be from South Africa and Europe. This is stated in the Namibian Agricultural Union’s 2020/2021 annual report.
“This forced producers to once again source new suppliers from Zimbabwe or Zambia, which are both costly. Meanwhile, increases in the cost of feed continued to aggravate producers’ input costs.
“This forced both chicken meat and egg producers to re-evaluate the price of their products. Consumers undoubtedly have also felt the pinch.”
According to Werner, many potential producers are expressing interest in joining the industry, especially as broiler producers.
“Gaining access to markets remains the challenge. There is a company planning to develop mobile slaughter abattoirs and offering to buy the chicken meat from producers, or alternatively offering to slaughter on behalf of the producers.”
Turned down
The association - together with the poultry industry - took the initiative to sponsor and enable the Directorate of Veterinary Services to employ unemployed University of Namibia graduates with the aim to supply extra help at the country’s borders to control the importation of poultry products, he said.
“Unfortunately, the initiative was turned down due to logistical reasons,” Werner added.
He said an investigation into the illegal imports of poultry products undertaken in 2019 was also completed and the results are still being awaited.
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Namibian Sun
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