BROILER SHORTAGE CREATES OPPORTUNITY

MBABANE – Few broiler farmers had stock this festive season due to a shortage of chicks.

This did not work in their favour as the festive season should be a time when businesses maximise their profits, but without stock there was nothing to sell.
This proved the Eswatini competitions commission (ESCCOM) findings true that those independent growers, who comprise small scale farmers who produce broiler chickens independently, were not consistent. However, for some broiler farmers business did well. The supply and demand of broilers encouraged the price to soar from E60 to E80 per broiler.

Maximise

Eswatini National Agriculture Union (ENAU) Executive Director Lwazi Mamba said, “It was sad that farmers had to miss an opportunity to maximise their profits.” This missed opportunity was caused by the shortage of chick supply. In the country, we rely on National chicks for the supply of broilers but they were having challenges with their supply. Mamba stated that there is great need in the country for a reliable supply, hence he encouraged National Chicks to increase efforts in production for a constant supply. It is worth noting that farmers are more focused on broiler farming, instead of chick production.

“As much as it is hard for farmers to get into the chick production industry, farmers need to up their game and become more innovative; thus can seize this supply shortage as an opportunity,” he said. Mamba explained that as much as this comes as an opportunity, farmers should first conduct a feasibility study before jumping in. unfortunately, as the union they haven’t done one.

Grab

Mamba stated that they would be keen to help farmers grab this opportunity. “With the help of the Ministry of Agriculture, we can arrange trainings for farmers on chick production,” he said. It is advised that farmers should form cluster groups if they plan on being a reliable supply, so that they can maximise their production and constantly have supply ready. This would also work better for the ministry as they do not do individual trainings but group trainings. Worth noting is that a NAMBoard report stated that export value of table eggs and chicks in 2020 was about E3 million.

Boost

“Hence producing our own chicks can boost poultry exports as we mainly export table eggs and chicks,” said NAMBoard.

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