E302M POULTRY BUSINESS ON VERGE OF COLLAPSE

MBABANE – When driving to areas, including but not limited to Phocweni, Esibayeni Lodge, Police College or Matsapha Maximum Prison, one always pass by Mathangeni-one of the country’s busiest chicken selling spots where live broiler chickens are sold.

Arguably, it is one of the booming businesses in Matsapha and this is backed by the fact that the major customers are the over 15 000 people working at the textile factories.

Estimated, there are about 45 people who, each and every day, are found alongside the road at Mathangeni plying their trade which is their only source of income. Some of them are employed by small scale poultry producers while some buy to resell. When taking into consideration the country dependency ratio of 1:7 (one working individual supports about seven people directly or indirectly), the people who directly benefit from this business are over 315.

The Times SUNDAY has learnt that each of the 45 people sell about 500 live chicken per day at E40 each. If the information this publication sourced from the people doing the business is anything to go by, money which is generated per day at Mathangeni is about E900 000 per day, E6.3 million per week and E25.2 million per month and E302 million per year.

Against this backdrop, the over 1 000 shisanyama owners could soon find themselves going for days with nothing to put on the table due to government’s newly-introduced Bye-Laws.

The Times SUNDAY has learnt that some of the bye-laws are relatively harsh and will wreak havoc on the poultry industry. It will eliminate the small scale producers who do not have established markets to sell their produce. Small scale poultry producers heavily rely on selling the live broilers.

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