Mozambique: Chicken meat production reaches 135,000 tonnes

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Mozambique: Chicken meat production reaches 135,000 tonnes

11:39 CAT | 23 Feb 2022

Photo: Social Media

Mozambique’s annual chicken meat production reached 135,000 tonnes in 2021, and 159,922 tonnes for beef, according to a report in Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”.

Addressing the 1st National Livestock Forum, held in the Maputo urban district of Katembe, the Minister of Agriculture, Celso Correia, said that the meat production record represents a 13 per cent growth when compared to the previous year. The 2020 figure for chicken meat was 120,000 tonnes.

There had also been an 18 per cent increase in the production of eggs, said the Minister. This growth was historic – it meant that Mozambican is now self-sufficient in chickens.

He added that the livestock sector plays a vital role in the Mozambican economy, and provides livelihoods for more than 500,000 people.

The growth in production, said Correia, was the result of policy measures, but particularly of the hard work done by Mozambican livestock farmers.

He promised that “in the short term, we want to design a path for technological transformation that can bring results in the medium and long term”.

The growth recorded by the meat production sector, he declared, will drive and inspire the vision and strategy needed to build an efficient and income generating subsector.

Data disclosed at the forum place Mozambique as the southern African region’s second largest producer of chicken behind South Africa. As for cattle, Mozambique, with 2.2 million animals, is in eighth position, in a ranking that is currently led by Tanzania.

There had also been a dramatic improvement in the health of Mozambican livestock. More than 80 per cent of the animals had been vaccinated against the main livestock diseases, and the occurrence of disease had been cut by 50 per cent.

Source: AIM