South Africa's poultry industry has shown remarkable resilience despite facing up to the challenges brought by the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza which has forced farmers to cull millions of birds, but many consumers are still concerned by the rising costs.
Poultry production in the country is being restored and supply chains are slowly coming back on line after a devastating bird flu outbreak ripped through the country last year.
Though the situation is improving, supply chains in the poultry sector haven't been fully restored yet as farmers still struggle with the high input costs which are hampering efforts to meet consumer demand.
"Although we've lost 30 percent of our flocks, we still didn't have a shortage of chicken meat during the Avian Influenza period. And what we did as an industry -- it wasn't a combined effort, it was individual companies taking action -- they imported 285 million hatching eggs that they hatched in our hatcheries, placed the birds on our broiler farms, and then slaughtered these birds to keep jobs in the industry," said Izzak Breitenbach, CEO of South African Poultry Association.
Feed is an important component in poultry production but it has also become expensive, piling pressure on farmers, and while fuel prices have eased slightly they still remain the highest input cost, followed by electricity.
"We will have farmers that got the disease or have birds that were in contact with the diseased birds, and they have culled all those birds. These chicken houses then stand empty, and at the cost of the producer, they need to be replenished. And because it's long-living birds, it would be broiler breeder birds and commercial layer birds. These are very expensive birds, so it has a material impact," Breitenbach said.
Chicken is still the most affordable protein for the majority in South Africa, but the knock-on effect of these surging production costs is also being seen at the point of sale and is being felt by consumers, some of whom are even thinking of cutting back.
"The price of eggs and chicken have gone up significantly, but they haven't come down again. So it affects us at the end of the day in a big, big way. We've got a little baby at home, and it's a huge effect because it not only affects the [price of] chicken and the daily cost of living, but you have to increase your budget," said a resident.
"The cost of living is too high, so next time we won't eat any chicken anymore. We won't eat meat at all. We'll be vegetarians. Yeah, it's too much because now I'm no longer buying like the way I used to. It's too expensive," said another local man.
S Africa's poultry industry grapples with rising costs in aftermath of avian flu outbreak
