Dual-purpose poultry (DPP) breeds can be raised for both meat and eggs, potentially offering an alternative to traditional village chickens, also known as local or indigenous chickens. According to the World Poultry Foundation (WPF), DPPs higher production potential could help address gaps in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) poultry market and improve productivity among rural and small-scale producers.
Speaking to Farmer’s Weekly, Maureen Stickel, vice-president of innovation and initiatives at the WPF, said village chickens typically produce between 40 and 60 eggs a year, compared with around 150 eggs from DPPs, depending on feeding and management. Under suitable conditions, DPPs can also reach a market weight of about 2kg in approximately three months, compared with around eight months for village chickens.
The WPF published its first Africa-wide DPP landscape survey on 30 September 2026. The findings provide a starting point for identifying ways to strengthen local production and distribution of DPP breeds in South Africa and the wider SADC region.
After gathering data from 72 companies across 33 countries, the survey found that between 213 million and 225 million day-old DPP chicks were sold across Africa in 2025. It provided a baseline for an industry that had not previously been mapped at this scale.
However, the market is unevenly distributed. The findings showed that Southern Africa accounted for just 2,3% of estimated continental day-old chick sales, compared with 64,7% in East Africa and 26,7% in West Africa, with North and Central Africa making up the remaining 6,3%.
For Stickel, the scope for growth extends beyond poultry farmers to include hatcheries, feed suppliers, and brooding units that rear chicks during their vulnerable first weeks before distributing them to rural households.
“This is a whole new market segment. It’s not cannibalising the layer and broiler markets,” she added.
In South Africa, there are already examples of farmers earning income from DPP breeds.
“There is a commercial opportunity for dual-purpose poultry in South Africa, particularly for farmers who can develop reliable markets for fertile eggs, day-old chicks, breeding stock, and meat,” Dr Letlhogonolo Selaledi, a poultry researcher at the Agricultural Research Council, told Farmer’s Weekly.
He added that some farmers keep DPP breeds such as the Buff Orpington and the Potchefstroom Koekoek, selling fertile eggs, chicks, and cockerels for meat.
Selaledi also noted interest in DPP breeds among farmers at a poultry farmers’ day in Madibogo, North West, in September. Some were interested in crossing these breeds with local chickens to improve meat production.
He said that realising this potential would depend on building a viable value chain around these chickens. Farmer education, reliable distribution, access to suitable feed and breeding stock, and research into consumer demand would help determine whether DPPs could become a viable industry across Southern Africa.
