In this episode of the Farmer’s Inside Track weekend edition, we take a closer look at South Africa’s poultry sector master plan. Izaak Breitenbach, a well-known figure in the poultry industry and general manager of the broiler unit at the South African Poultry Association, joins us to detail the plan and what Mzansi’s farmers should know.
According to Breitenbach, considerable progress has been made since the inception of the agri master plan. The master plan’s objective for the poultry industry is to develop local production and economic growth as well as give black farmers a platform.
“We’ve seen a lot of progress, and that is good. The first part of progress that we’ve seen is that there was a R1.1 billion investment to increase local poultry production as the objective. That has resulted in a 10% increase in total production of local poultry.”
Secondly, there has been massive job creation within the industry, Breitenbach said.
“Very importantly, as part of transformation, we had to establish more black farmers,” he pointed out. “We have established 13 black farmers [with an] investment of more than R45 million in a farm. These are very, very big farms. They farm about 200 000 chickens at any point in time, so that’s significant progress.”
Challenges in exporting and importing
Breitenbach adds that in terms of exports, South Africa has several obstacles. He feels that no place in the world that produces chicken would want to import chicken from another nation, but this is the reality in Mzansi currently.
“We are targeting the Middle East in the European Union for exports of cooked broiler breast meat, and we believe that we can be successful.
“We will be disappointed if we do not increase our exports by the end of 2023,” says Breitenbach.
He further unpacks the following topics in the podcast:
- What farmers need to know about the five pillars of the master plan; and
- Key players in the poultry industry’s development; and much more.
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ALSO READ: South African poultry sector eyeing export growth
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