Poultry sector underperforming

Harare - Low cash flow circulation has led to the poor performance of the poultry industry which is already suffering from a reduced demand for white meat for the first half of the year, an expert said on Friday.

Zimbabwe Poultry Association president Solomon Zawe told this publication that the poultry sector is experiencing serious liquidity challenges and consumer are not spending much resulting in slow uptake of chicken meat on the market.

"The market is low and the demand of chicken meat is quite depressed and most producers have stopped supplying chickens because of the slow market," said Zawe.

Last year the poultry industry recorded a production of 64 million day old chicks and there are looking to surpass the production to 74 million as producers are putting more hatches.

He lamented the $390 maize price per tonne gazetted by the government citing that the stock feed for chicken will be expensive as the Grain Marketing Board (GMB) will put a mark up price.

He said high prices of stock feeds poses a serious threat to the poultry industry as some producers are already chickening out of the business.

"The stock feed price is very high and also the price of maize put by the government has worsened the situation, considering that the GMB will also put a mark up price most producers can not manage the prices," he said.

Zawe bemoaned the cost of compliance for trading licences which is very high and poultry producers are struggling to pay license fees which have led to sprouting of backyard chicken runs.

However, he pointed that going forward there are hoping that the poultry sector will gain momentum once stock feed prices are revised downwards and uptake improves.
On average 50kg of chicken stock feed is ranging between $32-35 currently.