Annual livestock symposium on

Poultry production in the first quarter

Farmers, agricultural service providers and livestock experts will converge at the Agricultural Trust Farm next month, for Symposium 2017 – a day of productive technical exchange and networking in the non-ruminant livestock sector.

Economic Empowerment through Non-Ruminant Production is the theme of Symposium 2017. This annual livestock event will focus on how pig and poultry production can contribute significantly to economic empowerment and economic revitalisation right down the value chain.

The Symposium takes place ‘on-farm’ at the Agricultural Research Trust (ART) Farm, Pomona on Thursday June 29.

The event, organised by the Pig Producers’ Association of Zimbabwe (PPAZ), Stockfeed Manufacturers Association (SMA) and Zimbabwe Poultry Association (ZPA) will focus on how the two meat producing industries in the country are a vehicle for economic empowerment and for driving economic growth, as well as contributing to food security.

Symposium 2017 will highlight how the economically empowered small-farmer is at the heart of a sustainable meat industry today.

It will illustrate how farmer productivity ultimately translates into increased productivity, value addition and revenue generation further down the value chain and how this can be successfully achieved for the benefit of the entire value chain.

The programme will highlight examples of mutually advantageous market linkages between the non-ruminant production processing and marketing.

It will also explore ways to harness financial resources for sustainable non-ruminant based livestock production activities; and strategies for value chain collaboration to improve productivity in non-ruminant production.

Now firmly established on the farming calendar, the symposium combines educative technical sessions with the annual general meetings of PPAZ and ZPA.

An added attraction is the many exhibitor stands mounted by industry service providers, to showcase their products and services to the growing livestock sector.

Now in its seventh year, the symposium was introduced in 2011 as an educational forum for the livestock industry rebuilding after hyperinflation. The annual symposium is recognised as an important technical forum for farmers and a livestock industry building platform.

First quarter performance of Zimbabwe’s two primary meat industries

Whilst Zimbabwe remains proudly self-sufficient in chicken and pork, first quarterly statistics show that year on year production in Zimbabwe’s two primary meat industries continues to decline.

Faced with rising production costs on one hand and reduced consumer spending power on the other, more chicken and pig producers have gone out of business or downscaled operations.

The poultry and pig industries grew significantly from 2009 to the end of the first quarter in 2015, restoring meat self-sufficiency in the country. There have been signs of recovery in recent weeks and it is anticipated that with the bumper maize harvest this year and an enabling economic environment, many producers will come back into production.

As well as contributing to food security, the poultry and pig industries have a significant role to play in economic regeneration.

Poultry production in the first quarter of 2017

The quarterly report of ZPA shows that overall, both small-scale and large-scale poultry production declined during the first quarter of 2017. A 6 percent decline was recorded in large-scale broiler production, while the small-scale sector registered an estimated 19 percent decline. This resulted in a 15 percent decline in average monthly meat production to 7,965 mt.

The ZPA quarterly analysis observes that “despite the slight improvement in broiler trends in the last quarter of 2016, breeder chick retentions and growing birds in the first quarter of 2017 were 18 percent and 16 percent lower than the same period in 2016.”

The first quarter saw the second lowest breeders in-lay figure since 2013, although this was 15 percent up on last year. Production of broiler hatching eggs was 5 percent higher than for the first quarter of 2016 but imports (10 percent of local production) were 67 percent lower, yielding a 12 percent decrease in total hatching eggs.

Total day old chick production was 12 percent lower than for the same period in 2016.

However, chick prices have firmed, averaging $66 per 100 chicks during the first quarter of the year, a sign that more producers are coming into production as local stocks of maize become available.

Declining Stockfeed Manufacture Mirrors Drop in Poultry Production 

Declining poultry production has also impacted significantly on the stockfeed industry as the poultry sector is the largest consumer of stockfeeds. The first quarter report of SMA shows a decrease in both the monthly procurement of raw materials and stockfeed produced.

These averaged 32 057 and 31,875mt respectively, a decrease of 23 percent and 26 percent over the same period in 2016.

Economically this was an 19 percent drop in the value of stockfeed produced, as a result of declining market demand for stockfeed by a shrinking farmer production base.

Poultry feeds accounted for 70 percent of all feeds produced by weight and 74 percent by monetary value; while pig and ruminant feeds together constituted 9 percent and 8 percent of the total value of feeds produced.