Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
New hatchery in fine feather
CHICKEN production in Limpopo got a serious boost yesterday with the official opening of the Northroost Hatchery in Makhado (formerly Louis Trichardt).
A modern new facility that can produce 208 000 quality day-old chicks a week, Northroost, is a joint venture between local Makhado entrepreneur Clive Tigere, of KC Hatchery, Country Bird Holdings (CBH) and Bushvalley Chicken.
“This is a game changer for broiler farmers in Limpopo who have never before had access to such consistent volumes of high quality day-old chicks,” said Tigere at the opening. “The local economy will benefit, more jobs can be created and the informal market can grow.”
CBH’s Brendon de Boer explained the partnership: “CBH supplies the fertilised Arbor Acre eggs, Clive oversees the hatching process, and Bushvalley takes a significant percentage of the day-old chicks.”
He added that the modern new facility was built and kitted out with an investment of R56 million. “Clive qualified for an IDC grant and we had started the application process over year ago, but government funding always take time and we didn’t want to delay.
“So between CBH and Bushvalley we decided to find the bridge financing so that we could get going with construction.”
Northroost’s first batch of fertilised eggs were set on August 24 and hatched on September 14, setting in motion a cycle in which two batches a week are hatched, several days apart.
So far, Tigere has maintained an excellent hatch ratio of over 90%, and by yesterday’s grand opening, the tally stood on over a million day-old chicks that have been distributed into the broiler market of Limpopo.
The joint venture was the happy result of a meeting five years ago, when
Tigere had approached the South African Poultry Association for help with a research project.
Tigere had given up a corporate job at McKinsey’s to focus on his fledgling poultry business back home in Makhado. He had noted the high incidence of dumped chicken available in Limpopo, and the negative effect it had been having on the informal poultry industry, with local farmers not being able to compete with the dumped imports flooding the market.
He was introduced to the CEO of Country Bird Holdings, who in turn, contacted his colleagues at Tzaneen-based Bushvalley to introduce them to the young entrepreneur in their hood.
Finding enough fertilised eggs of reliable quality was a constant battle for Tigere, and when CBH offered to supply as many as he needed, he jumped at the chance. He was not deterred by the fact that he had to collect the eggs in Lichtenburg in North West province, and made the 16-hour round trip from Machado every week.
“This steady supply of high-quality eggs completely changed our business,” said Tigere. “Having better eggs
meant a more predictable, higher hatch rate, and now KC Hatchery can commit to clients with a steady supply of chicks, allowing them to have a business all year round.”
By 2020, KC Hatchery was selling around 19 000 day-old chicks a week, and Tigere had started discussing a more formal arrangement with CBH and Bushvalley.
De Boer had been looking around for opportunities to further the company’s transformation agenda in line with the poultry master plan, and KC Hatchery was ticking all the boxes. The joint venture was eventually formalised.
“To transform the poultry industry as the master plan has called for, we believe that more projects such as this one is needed. It came together, because there was collaboration between government, integrated producers and local entrepreneurial talent,” said De Boer.
“There is a challenge in finding those solid projects with real potential in outlying areas, but they are out there, and working with the IDC to identify them is a way to open new markets and grow the industry.”