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Small-scale farmers struggle to keep up after bird flu outbreak

Small-scale poultry farmers in Limpopo say the outbreak of the avian influenza is affecting their business.

Theodore Mongwe, a Nkowankowa crop and poultry farmer who sells eggs and broiler chickens, told the Herald that her business has been affected by the bird flu outbreak as she does not have enough stock. Theodore has been avoiding stocking up on chicks because she was unsure if they could become infected. “There is a shortage of chicks at the moment and I can’t supply to all my customers. My longtime clients are disappointed because I can’t give them what they want.”

Mongwe says that feed input costs have also increased, forcing her to increase her prices as well. She will however soon produce her feed to help cut production costs. Another poultry farmer, Solomon Mathebula from Lulekani in Phalaborwa, says the government should step in and offer some form of relief to small-scale farmers to help them buy stock or feed because they are financially the hardest hit by avian influenza. “As the price of feed increases, we are forced to increase our prices, but our customers who are mostly unemployed complain when we increase our prices.

Also read: Farmers urged to change to ‘grow to sell’

“One live broiler chicken sells for R90, and to be honest, I’m already running at a loss because my clientele thinks I’m expensive. “For me to make a profit, I have to sell my chickens at R120 each, but in the rural areas, people can’t pay that much,” he says. “If the government could help with vouchers to buy feed to keep our businesses running it would help us a lot, however, most small-scale farmers in the rural areas have not registered businesses to access aid from government.”

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), avian influenza is a highly contagious viral infection that affects poultry and wild birds. Currently, two different strains are causing the avian outbreak in South Africa, the A(H5N1) and the A(H7N6).

The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development states that the A (H5N1) was first reported in April this year and to date about ten poultry outbreaks occurred in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal and 39 non-poultry birds have been reported also in these areas. The A(H7N6) outbreak has been ongoing since June and fifty outbreaks have been reported in the Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North-West, and KwaZulu-Natal. At the end of September only five farms in Limpopo, in the Waterberg District, have reported outbreaks.

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Anwen Mojela

Anwen Mojela is a journalist at the Letaba Herald. She graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Journalism at the Tshwane University of Technology. Including an internship and freelancing, Anwen has four years’ experience in the field and has been a permanent name in the Herald for nearly three years. Anwen’s career highlights include a water corruption investigative story when she was an intern and delving into wildlife and nature conservation. “I became a journalist mainly to be the voice of the voiceless, especially working for a community newspaper. Helping with the bit that I can, makes choosing journalism worth it.

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