Uniting for growth – government and farmers

KZN MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development Cyril Xaba recently addressed farmers at the KZN Poultry Institute in Pietermaritzburg, sharing his strategy of forming partnerships in the sector.

- Advertisement -

New opportunities are opening up in the poultry sector, especially for small- and medium-scale producers. Yet at the same time, the poultry industry as a whole faces a number of challenges. There is the drought, high feed costs, and having to balance local growth of the industry with chicken imports.

Internationally, the South African Poultry Association (Sapa) is fighting a brave battle to keep the international trade deal known as the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) fair for South Africa’s poultry industry. The new trade deal is currently being negotiated between the US and South Africa.* According to this, our country will get certain concessions for its exports of products such as fruit, wine, motor vehicles and their components. In exchange for these concessions, the US poultry sector wants to export more of its chickens to South Africa.

Sapa is concerned that cheaper chicken imports flooding the local market could affect the growth and development of the local poultry industry. We know from our own history that when we face adversity and challenges, the best way to deal with them is to stand together. This is why the guiding principle in the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD)’s new strategy for agrarian transformation is to work as a united front and through partnerships with the various commodity sectors.

- Advertisement -

This is the simple basis of the department’s vision for poultry farming in the province. As part of the strategy, we are in the process of negotiating a tripartite agreement with Sapa, including the Development Poultry Farmers’ Organisation (DPFO) and the KwaZulu-Natal Poultry Institute (KZNPI). This agreement is essentially about working together to grow the poultry sector and benefit a wider spectrum of people in KZN. More importantly, it is about developing and supporting the individual poultry farmer.

We want to bridge the gap between the first and the second economies and create an environment to assist those who want to make the transition from emerging to commercial farmer. We cannot continue with the situation where farmers are emerging … emerging … emerging … and 10 years’ later they are still emerging. Not while I am the MEC of this department.

I am well aware that market access is a key challenge for small poultry farmers. The department’s vision is to work closely with Sapa, DPFO and the commercial poultry sector to facilitate joint ventures and create market linkages. These will see small poultry players, especially those based in rural areas, being included in the value chain and connected to markets. We aim to ‘mainstream’ those farmers who remain on the periphery of the market.

The development of the economy in rural areas is key to this vision. This means strengthening the support for poultry farmers at both a local and district level.

Ten agri-parks
The KZN DARD, together with the National Department of Rural Development and Land Reform, is in the process of setting up 10 agri-parks in the province. Chicken is the most affordable form of protein for the majority of our consumers, and chicken hubs will undoubtedly form part of these parks. We aim to have depots that allow smallholder poultry farmers to have access to quality feed, chicks and health products.

Work on this has already begun and there are plans for the refurbishment of a hatchery in the Umgungundlovu District Municipality near Pietermaritzburg to provide day-old chicks to small-scale farmers. The aim is to develop hatchery hubs that will supply the entire province.

Unity and growth through partnerships means that we must also be able to negotiate across sectors to find solutions to such challenges as high feed prices.

Future farmers must be business savvy if they are to survive in a competitive environment. Farming is both a scientific enterprise and a business, and farmers who have attended the KZNPI’s courses have certainly learned this. The KZNPI has an impressive training programme and is doing excellent work in growing our future poultry farmers. More than 6 000 people have so far undergone training at the institute.

The department has a cooperative arrangement with the KZNPI whereby we shall leverage their specialist poultry training. Extension officers, animal health technicians and students from our colleges will be sent to the KZNPI for training. The department’s poultry specialists will be based at local and district level to be readily accessible to support and continually upskill small poultry farmers.

Similarly, the department has been restructured to align with its new strategy for agrarian transformation in the province. For instance, more authority has been devolved to the district offices. Poultry farmers are encouraged to interact with and visit the KZN  DARD offices in their districts to find out more about the services on offer.

At this stage, I cannot go into more detail on the agreements being negotiated between the department and the poultry sector, as all of this will be finalised once Sapa’s involvement with the matter of the Agoa negotiations has been completed.

Optimistic
I am optimistic about the future of the poultry industry and the potential opportunities that will soon become obvious; and even more so if we work in a partnership involving the private sector and the government. The country’s poultry industry today is worth more than R27 billion a year and is continuing to grow.

Today, the per capita consumption of chicken stands at around 37,3kg compared with 21kg in the year 2000. Market research has shown that poultry consumption will continue to grow and that per capita consumption of chicken is expected to exceed 45kg by 2020.

This is a market waiting to be exploited. Together, we can do it and grow our next generation of poultry farms. In each of these developments, what matters most is you, the farmer, and the support that you can be given to become successful.”
– Robyn Joubert

* The US-SA poultry trade deal was signed off in Paris on the weekend of 6/7 June. SA agreed to import 65 000t of chicken from the US duty-free. This compromise facilitated SA’s participation in the renewed Agoa treaty.

Phone MEC Cyril Xaba’s spokesperson Lelethu Manentsa on 071 492 5716