The success of egg producer Beverly Mhlabane is an inspiring example of what determination can do.
A qualified engineer, she left her job to go poultry farming in a small way. Then in a bigger way. And now she’s running a business supplying eggs and vegetables to a supermarket chain, a hotel, a fast food restaurant and local hawkers. She is looking to expand into meat production.
Her story was highlighted in the government news service SAnews, as part of a feature on the poultry sector master plan and how the SA Poultry Association (SAPA) is helping emerging black poultry farmers.
SAPA provided egg production training and then paid for the water use licence her business needed, one of many examples of what SAPA’s support for black farmers and job creation. It has so far invested R870 million in these projects, and has a database of 670 small business farmers that it helps with information and invites to its webinars on poultry production.
A current focus, given the limited avian influenza outbreak in Gauteng, is biosecurity audits for small poultry businesses and training in the biosecurity measures needed this coming winter.
