An overview of small-scale broiler meat production in Ehlanzeni District, Mpumalanga Province of South Africa.

Abstract

The largest agricultural sub-sector in South Africa is the broiler industry. Poultry industry produces one of the most consumed meat protein sources in the form of broiler meat. Small-scale broiler famers help alleviate poverty and increase food security by producing broiler meat. The objective of this study was to provide an overview of broiler meat production from small-scale poultry farmers in Ehlanzeni district, Mpumalanga province of South Africa. The overview was done by interviewing different small scale farmers in the Ehlanzeni district using a structured questionnaire after giving consent to participate. The sample was saturated with 152 participants. The participants were spread among the communities of Ehlanzeni which included Kabokweni, Hazyview, Nkomazi, Matsafeni, Kamagugu, Kanyamazane and White river. They were selected using convenience sampling method. That method allowed the selection of accessible broiler producers only. The research sought to investigate of small-scale broiler producer’s perception on acceptance of broiler meat. The participants were given the opportunity to provide information pertaining totheir production strategies and management styles. During the interview, questions pertaining to their consumption preferences, knowledge about meat quality and their buying behaviour were also included. Additionally, they shared their perception on challenges facing small-scale broiler farmers. Participant’s experiences were recorded after sharing them in the short structured interview. The collected data was analysed using SPSS 25.0 and descriptive analysis was used to profile households’ socioeconomic characteristics. The demographic information of the participants showed that the majority (62.5%) of the participants were females. The age groups of participants went up to over 60 years with age group 31-45 years being the dominant group. Only 6.6% of the participants had tertiary education, the majority (89.5%) only went as far as Grade 12. There were11.8% producers who were new in the industry and 18.4% had been in the industry for more than 10 years. Themain source of income for Seventy five percent (75%) of the participants is broiler production. Moreover, most famers (78.3%) outsource water from the municipality and the remaining 21.7% obtain water from the bore whole. minority (4.6%) of the respondents had only one house which could keep up to 500 broiler chickens. There majority (70.4%) of respondents had 3 houses for to keep their chickens. . Seventy point four percent (70.4%) of the respondents obtained day-old chicks from a hatchery and 3.3% obtained them from the government. It was concluded that broiler production is playing an important role in alleviating poverty in the communities of Ehlanzeni district; however, they have limited access to farmer’s trainings and government support.