Staff Reporter
Windhoek – There may be shortages of poultry products in the shelves this festive season due to a shortage of chicken on the local market. Further, the cheaper prices of poultry products, compounded by the high demand for poultry, could mean shortages of chicken in shops.
In a statement by Namib Poultry Industry said chicken supply will remain under pressure due to festive season high
demand and the relatively cheaper price per kilogramme compared to beef and lamb.
The slowdown in supply of chicken started some months ago when South Africa was hit by a strain of Avian influenza that resulted in an import ban in June on all relevant poultry products from that country into Namibia.
In a statement issued by Namib Poultry Industries, corporate social responsibility and stakeholder practitioner Ashante Manetti said the ban on poultry products from South Africa resulted in the supply chain of the product becoming longer, as the place of origin of imports were further away from Namibia. She said this was compensated for by granting additional quotas to poultry importers to factor in the change in origin.
She said the tonnage was also increased to the maximum for November and December to cater for the expected peak demand over the festive season.
Manetti said they had to source day-old parent stock from The Netherlands, a practice they have been following the past four months and will likely remain in place until the ban is lifted and it is declared safe to import poultry products from Africa.
Mannetti said the immediate result of the ban was that Namibia could no longer import eggs or raw poultry from South Africa.
Namibian importers thus had to change the origin of imported chicken from South Africa to either Europe or Brazil, Manetti said.
She said their production on the poultry farm has meanwhile been improved to world standards.
She said the result is that Namib Poultry Industries is currently producing in the region of 450 tonnes of poultry per week, or 1,950 tonnes per month.
The company said they remain committed to supplying local customers with the same volumes as in the past and asked that customers show understanding for the current situation in terms of the market supply of chicken and the far-reaching effects of the bird flu outbreak.
Namib Poultry said consumers can rest assured that locally produced chicken is safe for human consumption.