Zimbabwe: Poultry industry plunged into crisis

Published May 2, 2021

Tridge summary

Zimbabwe's poultry sector is in crisis due to a shortage of day-old chicks, high input costs, and high chick mortality rates, leading to a 15% to 20% increase in chick prices in the first two months of 2021. The shortage is attributed to slow breeding stock recovery and high demand for poultry products. The Livestock and Meat Advisory Council (Lmac) has noted that the total production of broiler day-old-chicks in 2020 decreased by 3% and 21% compared to 2019 and 2018, respectively. Farmers are finding it unviable and unsustainable due to the high costs and the quality of chicks being supplied. The Zimbabwe Poultry Association (ZPA) expects high demand for day-old chicks to persist due to anticipated bumper maize and soyabean harvests. The government has approved a suspension of duty on the import of non-Southern African Development Community hatching eggs for April to September 2021 to increase supply and reduce the cost of day-old chicks.

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Original content

Source: Poultry industry plunged into crisis | The Standard BY MTHANDAZO NYONI ZIMBABWE’S poultry sector has again been plunged into a crisis, with farmers decrying a serious shortage of day-old chicks, high input costs and chick mortality, Standardbusiness has established. Chick prices have risen by between 15% and 20% in the first two months of this year. Farmers, who spoke to Standardbusiness said the situation was dire, rendering poultry farming unviable and unsustainable. “The shortage of day-old chicks in Zimbabwe, particularly Bulawayo and the entire Matabeleland region, has grossly hampered poultry breeding lately. “Many keen farmers have nowhere to access the basics of this white meat source,” a Bulawayo-based farmer, Freeman Moyo, said. “Those few ferried from Botswana (broilers) and Kadoma or Harare are exorbitantly pegged at US$1 each or equivalent (day old), a price that demoralises any aspiring poultry farmer. “Only seasoned farmers are left to endure the ever ...

Source: Zimbabwesituation