The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters of Southern Africa (AMIE) loves chicken imports but it is not very good at promoting chicken exports. It’s also not very good about answering questions about its chicken export activities, or inactivities.
Since AMIE signed the first poultry master plan in 2019, it has remained silent while FairPlay has repeatedly asked what it is doing to boost chicken imports, in line with its master plan commitments. When the master plan was revised this year, again with AMIE’s signature, we asked the same questions. More silence.
Now, at last, Amie has been stung into response by out latest queries. The response should embarrass them because it implies that they are doing very little to help expand chicken exports. Strange, when more chicken exports would earn them more money.
Earlier this month, FairPlay noted that Amie was voluble about bureaucratic obstacles to beef exports but issued no angry press statements when the same problems faced chicken producers. What, we asked, was Amie doing to help address state veterinary shortages which hamper exports. Had it used its export contacts and experience to suggest new export markets for chicken or to urge government to sign new export agreements?
The answers, in the AMIE mouthpiece Chickenfacts this week, were revealing.
Within the poultry master plan, it says, AMIE is responsible for collaborating with government and industry to:
- Improve export certification systems.
- Address veterinary service capacity.
- Streamline export protocols for poultry and red meat.
- Support the development of new export markets.
Has it done any of this? AMIE replies with a generality that it “is actively fulfilling its role within the Poultry Master Plan and continues to engage government on the regulatory reforms necessary to unlock export growth.”
The only specific is that “AMIE has also engaged with the Minister of Agriculture to review the inefficiencies in the Animal Health Department – contradicting FairPlay’s assertion that the association has been inactive.”
Two cheers! AMIE has “engaged” with a government minister about veterinary inefficiencies. And what else? From the coy way AMIE has framed its answers, it would appear not much.
So FairPlay will keep on asking, using Amie’s four points of what it is supposed to be doing.
