Developing Countries Aim to Boost Poultry Output

Several news items in the last week point to real ambition in a number of countries to develop poultry production to feed their population better.

One Namibian company's new investment in hatching, broiler growing and feed production, for example, aims to meet the country's demand for chicken meat and double per-capita consumption.

This ambitious target is part of a multi-million Namibian chicken project, which began construction in April this year and should be in full production by July 2012.

Namib Poultry Industries aims to produce 250,000 chickens per week, enough to "serve the whole Namibian market," it says.

In Pakistan, the Sindh Enterprises Development Fund has approved 14 investment proposals for processing a wide range of agricultural produce, including three poultry farming projects. The projects will be eligible for financial subsidy to meet interest charges on bank loans.

And in Nepal, it is reported that, amid massive investment to cater to rising demand and consumption, growth of poultry products is expected to rise by 30 per cent to the value of NPR53 billion – around four per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – this year.

Investment in poultry has increased by NPR2 billion with the opening of over 5,000 new poultry farms across the country over the year to take the number of poultry farms to around 18,000.

A local poultry researcher and entrepreneur said: "New investments are coming in feed, hatchery, egg production and broiler chicken production in new urban areas where demand of poultry products is growing sharply."

India's top broiler producer, Suguna, says it aims to increase revenue around 15 to 17 per cent annually by continuing its focus on retail sales and on the domestic market, doubling its revenue within the next seven years.

Many poultry meat and egg producers in the developing world are facing huge challenges, however, particularly from the high cost of feed ingredients. Reports from Ghana and Uganda indicate that significant numbers of farmers are giving up poultry production as poor economic conditions stop them for raising their prices to cover increasing feed costs. Even in the US, poultry companies are not immune to these difficulties: the last commercial poultry producer in the state of Alaska has recently been forced to close.

And finally, high levels of dioxins have been found in some Dutch eggs. So far, only one organic farm appears to have been affected and the eggs have been traced to Belgium and Luxembourg. Details are sketchy but let us hope this is an isolated case: the European egg industry does not need a food safety crisis on top of its economic troubles.