Chicken farming has big potential

Namibia, like the rest of the world, literally cannot afford to rest on its laurels.
The country currently suffers from the effects of food price increases, unfavourable exchange rates, drought and water shortage, and a decline in oil prices which have hurt business from neighbouring Angola.
But the senior trade and investment policy analyst at the Namibia Trade Forum, Maria Immanuel, says growth opportunities have not been exhausted.
“Chicken farming is a ‘low-hanging fruit’ economic activity, which could create employment in the short and medium term for many Namibians,” Immanuel says in an opinion piece issued this week.
Notwithstanding a current legal challenge from South African poultry producers, she notes the positive effect for local investors of the government’s introduction in 2012 of infant industry protection (IIP) for Namibian producers.
Namibia’s total demand for poultry products is estimated at between 3 000 and 3 500 tons per month, while the country’s only broiler company, Namib Poultry Industries (NPI), is able to supply the local market with about 1 800 tons, or around 50% of the total demand.
“The quantitative restrictions give room for new poultry production to set up without major threats from imports,” Immanuel says.
Local producers have two main options open to them in considering the poultry industry, she says, the first of which, broiler production, is the most capital intensive.
This is due to requirements for bio-safety systems and advanced infrastructure, a highly skilled labour force, feed costs and water.
Thus, the much more attractive option of small-scale indigenous chicken farming could be better suited to small and medium enterprises.
“Small-scale poultry farming has the potential to lead rural industrialisation in the regions, especially at such times where the effects of drought threaten food security at home and national level,” the researcher says.
“The indigenous knowledge factor is the comparative advantage government should take advantage of by planning targeted programmes to make this a reality.
“Indigenous chicken farming is less capital intensive, with a low rate of disease outbreak as the breed is adaptable to the environmental conditions. They also require flexible feeding ratios and feed is easily sourced as it can be anything from mahangu to rice, insects and maize by-products.
“Government and other support can thus be focused on providing start-up inputs and training potential farmers in poultry management and husbandry,” she suggests.
“Now more than ever the government and private sector need to work together and collaborate on practical initiatives which could create employment as fast as possible in the short and medium term to save the local economy from drowning and pushing more people into poverty.”

DENVER ISAACS