Collapse of animal health system is costing SA billions

When supermarkets start to run out of eggs the country takes notice as consumers suffer

BL PREMIUM

02 OCTOBER 2023 - 05:03

The multiple challenges facing South African farmers rarely come to mind for those of us who don’t earn a living from growing crops and rearing farm animals. But when supermarkets start to run out of eggs the country takes notice.

The current outbreak of bird flu in many parts of the country could well be the worst to hit the local poultry industry. Large-scale poultry producers are already reporting losses running into hundreds of millions of rand and more than a quarter of broiler breeder hens that lay eggs to produce chickens for meat production have died or been culled. But these outbreaks of bird flu are to an extent a symptom of a much larger problem.