Nsikazi farmers launch new poultry association

Smallholder poultry farmers of the Nsikazi region have decided to join forces to fight issues affecting them. In a meeting held at Thembisa outside KaBokweni, they raised their concerns and share ideas on how to run their businesses. “We are launching a new poultry farmers’ association to empower and motivate smallholder farmers including those within the egg production and broilers for meat production, to push forward regardless of challenges in the industry,” explained Gogo Lomaswati Mbuyane-Ngomane, a local farmer.

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She said she has been breeding chickens for the past five years. Mbuyane-Ngomane started her business by raising only 100 chicks. She now rears more than 3 000 chickens a month. Issues ranging from high cost of feed from retailers to the unreliable quality of day-old chicks from suppliers were also discussed. The farmers raised their concerns regarding the mushrooming chicken coops owned by foreign nationals, especially Somalians, around the Engulubeni and Manyeveni areas. They accused them of stealing customers from them, something they vowed not to allow. They brought up the need for maize farmers in the province to manufacture chicken feed to be sold at reasonable prices to locals. The farmers also raised their discontent on the recently publicized Meat Safety Act of 2000 which is against the slaughtering of chickens for sale at their homes. Some said they had been slaughtering them for years and stated nothing will stop them from making means to feed their families. “We voted for this current ruling government and we cannot suffer from poverty and hunger while the same government we voted in power exploits us. We will stand as a united front and continue with our businesses without fear. The government must help us by providing jobs and farms so we can work, raise chickens, create job opportunities and feed the nation together,” said Vusi Mashile, one of the farmers. “We are hungry and trying to put food on the table for our families,” he added.

Enock Ndlovu, one of the old farmers in the area, urged them to work together and support one another to create sustainable job opportunities and to contribute to Mpumalanga’s economy. He revealed that their wish is to grow and become a recognised structure, to run their own abattoir and even supply government institutions with home-grown chickens. “We will need our government to support us by opening up meat markets to support the prisons, hospitals, schools and other government centres to sustain this business,” he said.

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The meeting was also attended by Collen Mashego, a representative of the Mobile Agricultural Skills Development and Training. “I was invited by one of the owners of a project I mentor. As an organisation will see how we can mentor the farmers. For now I realise that they have technical problems, business issues, and have no structure to overcome that. If they can work together to involve the youth and approach the right organisations, they can be successful and achieve their goals,” he concluded.