Lovemore Zigara, Business  Correspondent
GWERU-BASED poultry producer Fairhill Chickens will this year increase its slaughtering capacity by 150 percent to 30 000 birds daily driven by a new abattoir set to be commissioned in the first quarter.

The poultry producer’s managing director Mr Trevor Shaw told Business Chronicle that once the new abattoir is commissioned as planned, Fairhill Chickens would increase slaughter capacity from the present 12 000 chickens per day to 30 000.

“We have ongoing work on the slaughtering section focusing on our abattoir expansion and with money being available, we hope to finish the expansion work in the first quarter of this year.

“This will increase our slaughtering capacity from 12 000 birds a day to 30 000,” he said.

Mr Shaw was however, not at liberty to disclose how much they were investing into the new project.

Fairhill chickens is the biggest poultry producer in Gweru, producing about 40 000 chickens per week.

The poultry farm has also embarked on an out-grower scheme involving small-scale chicken producers as part of measures to boost its capacity.

Of late Fairhill Chickens has recorded a steady growth in poultry sales due to increased demand for its products.

The farm’s increase in sales has largely been attributed to a reduction in supply by other large-scale poultry producers as well as the drop in smuggling of imported poultry products.

Due to prevailing foreign currency shortages on the market, local poultry producers have increased prices of their products as they are importing hatching eggs from Europe and soya beans from the region using forex sourced from the black market.

In May and July last year, Zimbabwe was hit by two outbreaks of the bird flu at Irvine’s Lanark Farm near Harare.

As a result of the highly pathogenic disease, about 215 000 birds were culled to contain the outbreak.

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