Zimbabwe’s prolonged power cuts affect poultry farmers

Zimbabwe’s farmers are losing around one million broiler eggs per month due to power cuts and disconnections. The agriculture industry estimates the financial loss to be US$42,000.

The agriculture industry is suffering enormous losses due to power cuts and disconnections, which appear to be escalating under the direction of Zesa, the Zimbabwe Electrical Supply Authority.

The report further details that every 24-hour power outage causes the death of 700 chickens out of every 10,000 birds (7%). The power cuts are contributing to a 12 to 25% estimated in crease in poultry prices, due to the added costs of production. Part of the increase is due to the generators that farmers are investing in. At the same time, cost of power has been increasing.

However, the ability to pass the added costs of production onto the consumers are being hamstrung by stiff international competition in the form of imports. Poultry farmers have to take a loss in profit to sell their product.

Abattoirs are reporting live weight losses of 0.25% for each hour lost due to power cuts, and even a 30 minute disruption in the slaughtering process is visible in monitoring.

The report compiled by the agriculture industry has been handed to Joseph Made, Zimbabwe’s minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation.

Source: AllAfrica