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In America and Europe, vaccines are being developed to prevent humans being infected with avian influenza (bird flu).

Despite many growth constraints in the first three months of this year, South Africa’s agricultural sector rebounded strongly, with agriculture GDP growing by 13.5%.

The canned chicken market in South Africa will see rivalry between Astral Foods, South Africa’s largest poultry producer, and Oceana, which sells the popular Lucky Star brand of canned pilchards.

Two agricultural sector master plans that have yet to deliver fully on their promises of growth and jobs should be high on the priority list for South Africa’s next government.

While consumers paid more to buy chicken between February and April this year, farmers were paid less for this commodity, according to the latest Farm-to-Retail Price Spread report, published in May this year by the National Agricultural Marketing Council (NAMC).

Rainbow, South Africa’s second largest poultry producer, returns to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) this month after an absence of more than a decade.

Fears of a possible resurgence of bird flu in South Africa this winter have been highlighted by the international publication WATTPoultry.

Each year, African political leaders gather to set an agenda for the transformation of the region. While efforts have been made, the region – as compared to the rest of the world – continues to record little economic growth and high levels of poverty.

Chicken importers are agitating for a renewal of rebates on import tariffs that applied for the first three months of the year. As usual, their arguments ignore key facts.

Slow but steady progress is being made in vaccinating poultry against avian influenza (bird flu).

Chicken is the world’s most popular meat, and will account for nearly 30% of the growth in global meat consumption over the next three years.

South Africa’s largest poultry producer, Astral Foods, is planning a canned chicken product to rival tinned pilchards and sardines.

One of the big post-election questions, for the poultry industry in particular, is who will succeed Ebrahim Patel as Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.

South Africa’s unemployment rate is dangerously high and keeps on rising. The government desperately wants more jobs. Why then does it keep on putting obstacles in the way of the poultry industry with its proven job creation capability?

African mega-farming offers huge growth potential, with plans to boost exports to China and Europe. Yet, to succeed, investment in infrastructure and strong governance are crucial to tackle food insecurity and unstable institutions.

We asked a handful of key opinion leaders and experts this question: Following the general elections, what do you think a new government could do to quickly unlock South Africa’s agricultural potential, and kick-start growth?

We’ve asked the largest parties in South Africa about their plans for the agricultural sector, jobs and food security. This is what they had to say.

FairPlay has extended its criticism of the South African government’s refusal to compensate poultry farmers for bird flu culls, saying the policy was probably contributing to the spread of the virus.

It’s not only in South Africa that eggs are becoming more expensive.

France is attributing a sharp drop in the number of bird flu cases to a successful pilot campaign to vaccinate millions of ducks.

Good news for South African consumers – drought damage to maize crops is less than had been feared.

The Biden administration has taken strong measures to protect the US steel, shipbuilding and manufacturing industries threatened by cheap imports of steel and aluminium from China.

Astral Foods, South Africa’s largest poultry producer, is slowly recovering from the worst year in its history.

FairPlay has hit out at the South African government’s continued refusal to compensate poultry farmers for chickens culled during bird flu outbreaks.

South Africa has renewed anti-dumping duties on dumped chicken imported from the US. However, due to the Agoa trade deal, these anti-dumping duties are largely meaningless.

Brazil is selling more and more poultry to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia, two markets on South Africa’s export list but where progress has been painfully slow.

While the South African government continues to put obstacles in the way of the country’s huge poultry industry, it has come out in unreserved support for the important, but smaller, citrus industry.

South Africa’s food price inflation was down again in March, continuing a steady decline since it peaked at 14% in March 2023.

As bird flu devastated poultry flocks around the world in recent years, it has also infected an increasing number of mammals – seals, sea lions, bears, minks, domestic cats and, most recently cows in Texas.

The South African poultry industry has advised the government that there is no need to continue the tariff rebates on chicken imports, and that doing so would be illegal.

The debate about tariff rebates on South Africa’s chicken imports featured strongly in the Citizen newspaper this week.

Import tariff rebates were in effect for January, February and March to encourage additional chicken imports into South Africa because the government wrongly believed there was a shortage of chicken on the market.

The fearsome powers of South Africa’s competition-related market inquiries are among the reasons that the country’s poultry industry does not like the market inquiry which will investigate the workings and structure of the industry.