A wide variety of interesting news snippets this week, from Avian Flu updates to support materials for emerging farmers across Africa, to a quirky story about a disk-spinning chicken farmer.
Avian Flu
Even though there are no longer active Avian Flu cases in South Africa, there are still farms that have not been cleared. And it seems, according to international news, that a new cycle of avian flu has begun. So the current pre-occupation of the poultry industry is access to vaccines.
Various options are being discussed such as a compensation fund (which is unlikely as the government has stated it does not have the funds) or a special type of insurance, and a law to make vaccination mandatory.
Mandatory vaccination is unlikely to be successfully enforced, given the lopsided nature of the local poultry industry.
Industry News
The new CEO at DayBreak Foods has ambitious plans to change and grow the entity.
Support Industry News
Poultry farming in other African countries is enjoying international focus. It has been identified that small and emerging farmers grow almost a third of Africa’s food, and need to be supported.
The World Poultry Foundation has unrolled a series of indigenous-language videos to assist small and emerging poultry farmers. While none of the languages are South African, there is an English-speaking version with very simple language and illustrative graphics.
In Tanzania, USAID is supporting small and emerging farmers with a $2million project to empower young and female emerging farmers.
And, for the technophobes, chicken fat is emerging as an unlikely but sustainable source of alternative energy.
And finally...
COVID put the brakes on a disk-spinning career, which compelled an entrepreneurial DJ to groove over to poultry farming.
