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Poultry farmers in Tanzania’s urban areas are most affected because they rear exotic chicken breeds and that puts them in direct competition with mass producers in North and South America

Dar es Salaam. Small scale poultry farming is facing imminent collapse because of imported chicken, particularly from Brazil and the United States.

The imports are increasingly causing thousands of farmers lose income and lay off workers while such poultry products expose the country to diseases, experts have said.

Poultry farmers in urban areas are most affected because they rear exotic chicken and that puts them in direct competition with producers in North and South America.

“Chicken from overseas, where farmers enjoy heavy subsidies, are stifling local producers,” Mr Michael Mziray, a small scale poultry farmer at Mbezi Tangi Bovu in Dar es Salaam, said at the weekend.

In Zanzibar, several farmers have closed up shop in the wake of massive, cheap chicken imports.

Mr Mziray, who has been into poultry keeping for the last 20 years, said he recently invested Sh7 million in his chicken farm but since the market is saturated with imports, he might recover only Sh4 million.

He said a chicken should be sold after 35 days but it now stays up to 90 days awaiting buyers and this affects its value and quality.

“I have been forced to sell 1,000 chickens on credit after they overstayed on my farm. I am now clearing the farm but I can’t tell when I will be paid,” said the farmer, adding that while 1kg of imported chicken sells for Sh5,000, the local variety sells for Sh7,000.

“I took a bank loan to run this business but now my future is bleak, thanks to the chicken imports,” said Mr Mziray.

Ms Nai Mollel, his neighbour at Mbezi Tangi Bovu, echoed the same concern, saying that she was thinking of closing down her six-hectare farm at Bunju.

“I invested Sh20 million in this poultry farm, which presently boats between 4,000 and 5,000 chickens but there is nowhere to sell them. Most of the small scale producers are now calling it quits,” said Mollel.

Mr Mziray and Ms Mollel, who are among tens of hundreds of affected small scale poultry farmers, appealed to the government to be bold and stop chicken imports. – The Citizen

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