Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique produced, over the last nine months of this year, 99,200 tonnes of chicken and 23.2 million dozen eggs.
According to Roberto Albino, the Minister of Agriculture, Environment and Fisheries, who was speaking on Wednesday at the opening ceremony of a national workshop on the poultry sector, poultry farming is one of the livestock segments that contributes most to covering the deficit of animal protein and food security in the country.
“As a result of government incentives for private investments (incubators, feed mills, and slaughterhouses), and the integration of small and medium-sized breeders into the corn and soybean production chain, the sector has had substantial results, with a national production last year of approximately 135,000 tonnes of chicken and 29.8 million dozen eggs”, he said.
He explained that the poultry sector is crucial within our development programme “in order to ensure that Mozambique achieves full food self-sufficiency in this protein, at a moment when less than 20 per cent of our market is supplied by imported chicken.”
“The government reaffirms its commitment to continue creating an environment conducive to investment, technological innovation, and the integration of young people and women into the poultry production value chains”, he said.
According to the minister, from January to September, only 21,800 tonnes of chicken and 5.4 million dozen eggs were imported. “Our country wants a competitive poultry sector where the raw materials for feed production are entirely made in Mozambique”, Albino added.
“Poultry farming contributes to the supply of affordable animal protein, employment opportunities for young people and women, and the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises throughout the value chain, from production to processing and marketing”, he said.
“This subsector continues to face challenges regarding the availability of inputs and quality inputs, including the quality of day-old chicks, as well as access to sustainable markets”, he added.
For his part, Rafael Estevão, National Director of Livestock, said that one of the factors preventing poultry farming from developing more rapidly is the fact that most of the raw materials, such as soybeans and maize, used for feed production are imported.
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