North Africa faces poultry production crisis

Footage showing the mass culling of chicks at multiple poultry farms has triggered an outcry among the Egyptian population, many of whom have to count the cost of calories in their diet to make ends meet. Fears are that the poultry industry in North Africa is being more severely impacted by the food crisis further to the disruption of Ukrainian grain exports and other challenges. Hashtag ‘chicken execution’ went viral in Egypt in October, shortly after a series of videos picturing the brutal slaughter of chicks were posted on social media channels. In the video, a group of men, supposedly workers at poultry farms, put dozens of young chicks into large plastic bags and sealed them, slowly suffocating the birds. The shocking videos are believed to expose only the tip of the iceberg, as poultry culls have reportedly been taking place for months. Tharwat Al-Zeini, vice president of the Egyptian Federation of Poultry Producers, stated that poultry producers have resorted to culling ...