Making room in the market for small-scale farmers
TO COUNTER declining poultry production in Kwazulu-natal, the KZN Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (Dard) is seeking solutions to create opportunities for small-scale live chicken producers and sellers.
Dard said the growth of the local poultry industry had been threatened by cheap imports and relatively high feed costs, which had led to job losses and a decline in poultry production in KZN.
As a result, in 2017 Rainbow Chicken, renamed RCL Foods, closed 15 of its 25 farms in Hammarsdale, shedding more than 1300 jobs.
To counter the challenges, Dard wants to assist poultry producers by formulating a a collective farming concept and helping them to become contract growers for larger companies.
Dard spokeswoman Phathisa Mfuyo said this week that smallscale farmers could also supply government institutions such as prisons, hospitals and schools.
“This could be achieved through the formation of poultry ‘cluster’ units, where small growers have access to centralised processing, packing and marketing, with centralised input supply offering economies of scale.
“Poultry producers, like other farmers, are also encouraged to diversify to improve their competitiveness and productivity,” said Mfuyo.
She said that to make the live chicken market thrive, Dard knew it had to bring about structural interventions in feed production costs, create capacity-building programmes, offer mentorship, improve agro-logistics – especially transport to markets – and invest in secondary processing facilities, especially for excess stock not readily sold as live birds.
She said KZN Dard was developing a provincial agricultural master plan which would serve as a guiding framework for the promotion and development of the sector.
The plan was currently in the consultation phase with various stakeholders, including commodity organisations.
“Through the plan the department seeks to build strategic partnerships with key industry players, especially commodity organisations like the Kwazulu-natal Poultry Institute and Poultry SA.
“Notwithstanding the partnerships, especially with commodity organisations, and the extension of scientific personnel within the department, there are plans to strengthen the research capacity for various strategic commodities.” KZN Dard’s programmes were designed to promote alternative sources of protein, which included white meat, and knowledge of food production, especially in rural communities, as part of healthy lifestyle and sustainable farming systems.
“The department has long supported the establishment of smallscale poultry units primarily designed to capture the live chicken bird market.
“Units established in various districts of KZN, with support from the department, range from 200 to 1500 broiler units,” said Mfuyo.
According to a report drawn up by the SA Poultry Association, based on official SA Revenue Service statistics released last week, chicken imports reached a new high last year of 538434 tons, an increase from the previous record year of 2016 when 528108 tons reached South Africa.
The association also reported that total frozen broiler imports had risen from 368 201 tons in 2015 to 538434 last year.
The value of all poultry imports last year, including mechanically deboned meat, was R6billion.
Izaak Breitenbach, general manager of the association’s broiler organisation, said: “Every ton of imports represented South African jobs lost or not created.
“The association has calculated that we could create 30000 jobs by replacing chicken imports.”
The government has kept up interaction with Poultry SA in addressing the challenges associated with imports, taking into account the legal instruments designed to promote trade and open markets.