South Africa’s economy is stuttering, growing at less than half the rate of the global norm. That underscores the importance of industries that provide jobs and support economic activity, particularly in impoverished rural areas.
High on this list is South Africa’s poultry industry, FairPlay founder Francois Baird pointed out in an article in the Daily Maverick. He said the poultry industry’s contribution to the national economy and to the country’s food security is “massive, but often underappreciated”.
In fact, it was so important that the poultry industry should formally be declared a strategic national industry, Baird said.
“Chicken feeds the nation, as the industry regularly reminds us. Poultry producers provide twice as much meat as the beef industry, and four times that of pork producers. The result is that 66% of the meat consumed in South Africa is chicken.”
While the national economy grew at an estimated 1.3% last year, and a meagre 1.4% is expected this year, the poultry industry boosted production by 4.4% in 2014 and by a further 4% in the first three quarters of 2025. This was achieved despite government infrastructure failings and the every-present threat of bird flu.
The poultry industry was a huge R72-billion national asset. It employed more than 58,000 people directly and another 55,000+ jobs indirectly throughout the value chain.
“These are not city jobs. The local municipal districts containing the highest number of broiler industry farms are Mkhambathini in KwaZulu-Natal and Victor Khanye and Lekwa in Mpumalanga.
“While the national economy stutters, the poultry industry is providing work far away from the main industrial areas. Local salaries feed local families and sustain local economies.”
The steady supply of local chicken was critical for South Africa’s food security. The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) has estimated that 20 million South Africans, or 63% of households, are food insecure.
“The HSRC survey, published in 2024, also found that the rate of child stunting, caused by malnutrition, had risen to 28.8%. Undernourishment means that more than a quarter of SA’s children are condemned, before the age of five, to a life in which they are unlikely to reach their full physical or mental potential.
“That is what malnutrition is doing to SA. It’s a shameful and horrific statistic.
“It highlights the importance of chicken, the country’s most popular and most affordable meat protein. Chicken contains the essential minerals and vitamins that children need, and it is the meat most consumed by poor households.”
Declaring the poultry industry a strategic national industry would help the government focus on the importance of poultry, particularly in rural areas, while national economic growth remained weak, Baird concluded.
Broiler farm distribution, by province
