US$700 million invested in Afghan poultry, feed sectors

Over recent years, investment in the country’s poultry sectors and allied industries has helped to raise the output of chicken meat and eggs in Afghanistan, but imports are reported to be hampering further development.

Laura Glover, Freeimages.com
Laura Glover, Freeimages.com

Over recent years, investment in the country’s poultry sectors and allied industries has helped to raise the output of chicken meat and eggs in Afghanistan, but imports are reported to be hampering further development.

More than US$700 million has been directed towards new and improved poultry farms and feed production, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, reports Tolo News. A spokesman said that the funding had supported more than 10,800 new production and feed facilities, covering the whole production chain from hatcheries to poultry meat processing and packing plants.

In the eastern province of Nangarhar alone, which is near to the country’s capital Kabul, three large farms have been set up within the last two years, providing 250,000 eggs per day for sale at local markets.

Afghanistan is 49 percent self-sufficient in chicken meat and supplies around 25 percent of its egg requirements, according to the ministry.

However, domestic production is being held back by illegal imports of meat and eggs, according to local farmers, despite government efforts to protect the country’s producers by the imposition of import tariffs.

Veterinary, power issues impact Kandahar poultry farmers

The poultry sector in Kandahar province in the south of Afghanistan has also benefitted from recent investment, according to Pajhwok Afghan News.

Here, more than 450 broiler farms and 12 egg production facilities have received a share of AFN500 million (US$7.5 million). Output amounts to 100,000 eggs and 30 metric tons (mt) of meat per day. Six years ago, there were just six poultry farms in the province.

Although a poultry disease diagnostic lab has been set up in the province, farmers’ main concerns are a lack of veterinarians and high tariffs on medications imported from Pakistan and Iran, which are of variable quality.

According to an agriculture ministry official, there are now only two feed mills in the area producing poultry feed, and their output is insufficient to meet local demand. Owing to power issues and other problems, six feed mills have been forced to close down over recent years.

Support for family farming

Family farming also contributes to the poultry meat and egg supply in Afghanistan, as well as offering opportunities to improve the food intake and income of small producers.

In October of 2016, the country’s president, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, attended the international agricultural exhibition and the World Rural Women’s Day organized by the agriculture ministry.

At the event, Minister of Agriculture, Asadullah Zamir, said that poultry farms had been established for 126,000 families, reported Bakhtar News.

According to the statistics unit of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization, FAOstat, Afghanistan produced 23,718mt chicken meat and an estimated 18,000 mt of shell eggs in 2013, the most recent year for which figures have been published. 

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