eBusiness Weekly
Tapiwanashe Mangwiro
Business Writer
ZIMBABWE is facing an acute shortage of day-old broiler chicks, which has seen customers reportedly spending nights at major producers’ premises in order to stand a chance of getting the requisite orders, it has been learnt.
The shortage of the chicks has been attributed to overwhelming demand on the back of increased economic activity, which has seen demand out-striping supply due to relaxed Covid-19 restrictions and improved disposable income.
There had previously been a major scale down of production of day-old chicks by hatcheries as demand was low due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking to this publication, Livestock and Meat Advisory Council (LMAC) chief executive Dr Reneth Mano said, “Yes, there is a serious shortage of (day old) chicks on the market.
“Ordinarily, at this time of the year in the past, the demand would be low meaning even suppliers are overwhelmed by the unexpected demand. Given the situation, you would find that the lockdown, to an extent, contributed to this (huge) demand,” she said.
A good number of consumers had started keeping chickens as a pastime activity and also as an income-generating venture, resulting in high demand for chicks.
Further, poultry is a relatively easy project with a quick but good return. The input costs are relatively low and the project can be embarked on by many people.
As much as it can be undertaken at a large-scale, poultry projects can be done as a low key affordable commercial undertaking. The surge in the number of those who are into poultry farming business is as a result of the boom in demand for chicken meat across the country.
According to Dr Mano, hatchery production capacity has increased during the year, but it is the recovery of the breeding stock that is still a problem in the current cycle.
“Capacity has definitely improved, but we are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic, and it takes about 20-30 months for production to return to normalcy and we are about six months away from self- sustainability,” Dr Mano added.
As things stand, the industry needs the Government to continue supporting them with the waiver of duty on hatching eggs from the European Union, which generally attracts a 40 percent duty.
Zimbabwe needs about 15 million to 20 million imported eggs in order to meet demand as local production returns to full capacity.
“We cannot import from SADC as they are experiencing problems of their own, Zambia is also experiencing an unexpected growth in demand leading to it banning exports, while South Africa, is recovering from an avian flu outbreak. So we need to import from the European Union until March 2022 when the country is expected to be self-sufficient,” Dr Mano said.
In addition, imports of hatching eggs average 1,3 million per month, as a result, total hatching eggs average 9,8 million per month by 2021. According to statistics, breeders produced a total of 49,9 million broiler hatching eggs over the first six months of the year, surpassing the previous high of 47,1 million eggs over the first six months of 2019.
