The South African government says the country’s new poultry master plan would pursue an export-driven growth strategy for the South African poultry industry.
This was explained by Ncumisa Mcata-Mhlauli, Agroprocessing Chief Director at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC) during a visit to a Rainbow plant in Rustenburg in North West province.
Reporting on her speech, Engineering News said the first phase of the poultry master plan was from 2019, when it was signed, to 2023. It had focused on challenges faced by the poultry industry, including high feed costs, export barriers, and increasing chicken imports primarily from Brazil and the United States.
The second phase of the master plan would prioritise an export-driven growth strategy for the poultry industry. The strategy would be led by Zuko Godlimpi, Deputy Minister of the DTIC, and was being developed “through a collaborative action between government, industry and all social partners,” she said.
According to Mcata-Mhlauli, the second phase of the master plan will mainly focus on growth driven by exports of cooked meat and local demand increase strategies, effective trade measures, biosecurity measures for local and export markets and transformation of the poultry industry, among others.
“The other focus areas proposed by the social partners include addressing food security and malnutrition; a proposal on value-added tax exemption for some poultry products; funding; and other support for contract farmers and small businesses, with job creation, job-loss mitigation and transformation as cross-cutting themes.”
Mcata-Mhlauli also highlighted the DTIC’s role in trade support for the poultry industry and pointed out its importance in ensuring protection of the industry against imports, as well as the promotion of exports.
The poultry industry is the largest contributor to the agricultural sector with a total yearly gross value of production of almost R72-billion in 2022, accounting for 17.1% of the total agricultural gross value.
In the period from 2019 to 2023, the aggregate chicken meat inclusive of fresh, frozen, whole and offal achieved 6% growth in exports, Engineering News said.
