SA’s poultry industry (the country’s largest agricultural employer and its primary source of affordable protein) is being undermined and threatened. Not by foreign competitors but by the policies that claim to support it.
That was the warning from Izaak Breitenbach, CEO of the SA Poultry Association’s Broiler Organisation, during a FairPlay-hosted webinar this week on the future of U.S.–South Africa trade relations. Breitenbach argued that government’s lack of consultation and contradictory policy decisions are placing a critical national industry at risk.
Breitenbach said the poultry sector has been shut out of Government’s trade negotiations with the U.S., even as those talks could reshape the domestic industry’s future.
“We have not been consulted at all. Government is going ahead without regard for the consequences,” he said. Since the expiry of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), South Africa has lost its own export benefits while continuing to allow American poultry to enter the country, duty-free under a transitional quota. Breitenbach called this “effectively dumping chicken in South Africa,” arguing that the country has forfeited benefits while the U.S. continues to enjoy access at local producers’ expense.
He warned that pressure from Washington to remove South Africa’s Most Favoured Nation (MFN) duties could unravel the tariff protections that have supported local agriculture. “If we exempt the U.S., every other exporter will demand the same. This is not just a trade issue; it’s about the integrity of our tariff framework.”
More alarming, South Africa is now the only country in the world that allows the U.S. to self-determine its bird flu status, effectively letting Washington decide when its poultry is disease-free and safe for export. “We’ve handed over control of our own biosecurity,” Breitenbach continued.
Breitenbach’s remarks reflect deep frustration within an industry that had begun to recover under the 2019 Poultry Master Plan. That plan drove new investment, curbed dumping, and delivered 10% growth after years of decline. Now those gains are being undermined and undone, said Breitenbach “Government’s answer seems to be inviting America to dump more. We are prepared to make certain concessions, but no one wants to talk to us.” Breitenbach cautioned that government’s concessions and lack of consultation may “nullify” the Master Plan, erasing progress in jobs, investment, and transformation.
Beyond trade, Breitenbach highlighted two domestic failures that have compounded the sector’s vulnerability: the government’s refusal to compensate farmers for flocks culled during bird flu outbreaks, and the stalled rollout of vaccination. The 2023 bird flu outbreak cost producers R9.5 billion, yet no farmer was compensated.
“That policy drives the wrong behaviour; farmers hide outbreaks because they can’t afford to report them.” Without vaccination approval or proper veterinary capacity, he warned, “we’re heading for another crisis.”
The other panellists echoed Breitenbach’s call for greater accountability and transparency. Baird reminded the audience that “chicken feeds the nation,” providing 66% of all meat consumed in South Africa. “If people are already hungry, wait until the local poultry industry is destroyed.”
Breitenbach’s message was clear: the poultry industry is not seeking protectionism, but partnership. It has modernised, invested, and proven globally competitive. But government’s secrecy and inconsistency threaten to undo it all. “We want to work with the Departments of Agriculture and Trade, not against them, but then we have to be in the room.”
At a time when food insecurity is rising and a fifth of households report not having enough to eat, undermining a sector that feeds the nation borders on reckless. South Africa cannot keep trading away its own food sovereignty for short-term diplomatic concessions.
If policy continues down this path, the cost won’t be measured in tariffs or trade balances, it will be measured in jobs lost, farms closed, and the collapse of one of the few industries still capable of feeding the country’s most vulnerable.
