Chicken aid too little, too late
‘EMPTY GESTURE’ SAY POULTRY FARMERS
FOR poultry farmers and workers, the offer to buy ailing farms – struggling under the weight of cheap chicken imports – was something of an empty gesture.
This was the view of several bodies in the industry, in light of ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe’s recent call for government to acquire the poultry farms that were shutting down.
It was reported last week that the pressure of imports would cause more than 3 000 job losses, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal, where a large part of the industry – in the form of Rainbow Chickens – was based.
Mantashe, who had been speaking during a post-NEC (national executive committee) lekgotla media briefing last week, said in the report that the party had resolved to pursue buying farms as part of accelerating radical transformation of the economy and to disrupt existing patterns of ownership and control.
He told The Mercury yesterday that he had made the call based on the “human impact” it would have.
“In terms of producing chickens, we have the capacity. It would be better for us to retain this ability and then transform the industry.”
Mantashe said the industry was concentrated in the hands of a few producers.
“This is something we need to change. From this monopoly, there is an opportunity to include many others.”
Repeated attempts to get comment from Rainbow through its group legal and corporate affairs manager Stephen Heath, went unanswered yesterday.
The general secretary of the Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Fawu), Katishi Masemola, said while they welcomed the principle of the statement, they thought it “misguided”.
“Even if they (the government) bought all the farms, it would make no difference to the fact that we are the dumping ground of the chicken from Europe.”
He said that chicken portions were sold in Europe at high prices, while the less desirable cuts and portions were exported to other countries at “ridiculously low” prices.
“We simply cannot compete locally.”
Kevin Lovell, chief executive of the SA Poultry Association, said it might be too late to acquire the farms that had been put up for sale in recent months, because they would have been sold already or were in the process of being sold.
“The real problem here is that of imports. I know it’s unrealistic to completely cut off imports from other countries, but we need to find a way of regulating them better.”
He said the country imported 540 000 tons of chicken last year, which amounted to one and a third of what the country produced locally.
He said assistance from the government would be invaluable in transforming the industry.
“We could create some 50 000 jobs from the export of our locally produced chickens.”
He welcomed the recent establishment of a task team to counter the challenges faced by the industry.
This team, said the Department of Trade and Industry in a statement last month, had secured “significant progress across a number of workstreams”, to develop a common response to the complex challenges facing the domestic industry.
The team comprises various government department representatives, sector industry associations, poultry producers and workers’ unions.
But South African National Consumer Union (Sancu) chairperson Ina Wilken disagreed that imports were at the root of the problem.
“Only 14% of the chicken in the country is imported. This isn’t necessarily what you would find on your supermarket shelf though. Instead this chicken goes to the restaurants and would be in your chicken pie, for example.”
She pointed out that there was a 13.9% tariff on imported chicken.
“Many would like to see this tariff raised.”
She said the current situation faced by poultry producers was a result of poor business management and planning. “If the farms are struggling, I think the government’s assistance can help save them.”
Association of Meat Importers and Exporters SA chief executive David Wolpert said, while they would not want to comment on Mantashe’s plan, they wanted to see the entire local poultry industry thrive.
“We believe that this is possible if the correct strategies are applied, which would not include punishing imports, as such a move would be inflationary as well as a danger to food security.”