THE gross value of Zimbabwe’s poultry products has surpassed the US$1,2 billion mark with significant downstream and upstream income and employment impacts across the economy, the Zimbabwe Poultry Association (ZPA) has said.
ZPA chairman Dr Tizai Faranisi revealed this at the inaugural Zimbabwe Poultry Expo 2026 held recently in Harare under the theme: “Empowering Growth: Innovation and Accessibility in Poultry Farming.”
Dr Faranisi said the commercial poultry industry and its sister free-range poultry subsectors were making significant growth strides, helping to bridge the national protein consumption gap relative to other countries.
“In 2025, the chicken industry produced 277 472 tonnes of meat, equivalent to 17,48 kilogrammes per capita and supplied 100,47 million dozen eggs to Zimbabwe consumers or 6,33 dozen eggs per capita.
“Small to medium scale commercial broiler producers contributed the largest portion of 69 percent, followed by large scale on 18 percent and village poultry producers on 13 percent,” he said.
The ZPA chair said Increased investments in breeding and hatcheries had steadily increased self-sufficiency to 95 percent in 2025.
“In addition, the industry supplies extra protein in the form of spent hens from the egg farming enterprises and from the breeding companies, as well as affordable protein in the form of offal.
“Last year, we estimated these amounted to 8,017 tonnes of meat from spent hens, and 57 098 tonnes of offal (offals, heads, chicken feet, liver, hearts, gizzards).
“Adding these brings total chicken meat supplied to 341 588 tonnes, boosting per capita meat supplied by the sector to 21,59kg per person,” Dr Faranisi said.
Statistics from ZPA indicate that poultry feeds account for 78 percent of stock feeds manufactured in the country, with the expansion of the industry stimulating the growth of downstream production of oilseeds and cereals.
The growth in broiler chick production has outpaced the abattoir slaughter capacity, presenting huge opportunities for investment in small to medium-scale abattoirs servicing consumption areas outside the major cities in line with national development, decentralisation and value addition policy.
“The message to all stakeholders is that we have to remain on high alert to the avian influenza scourge and have zero tolerance for illegal imports of poultry products, dead or alive.
“Related to this threat, there is an urgent need for closer co-operation between the Government, industry and universities to develop a national biosecurity standard for preventing avian influenza so that we protect our industry,” Dr Faranisi said.
Agriculture, Mechanisation and Water Resources Development Deputy Minister Davis Marapira said the Expo was important as it brought representatives of the poultry industry from abroad, the region and locally.
“This mixture will help us share ideas between feed manufacturers, breeders and farmers and allow the country to meet its target to produce more than 360 000 tonnes of chickens by 2030 and more than 200 million eggs per year by 2030,” he said.
According to the Agriculture Food Systems and Rural Transformation Strategy 2 (AFSRTS 2) 2026-30, the poultry production in Zimbabwe had grown significantly over the years, driven by increasing consumer demand for affordable protein, urbanisation and the relatively short production cycles of poultry compared to other livestock.
“However, this potential is hampered by high input costs for commercial chicken (broilers and layers) such as the high cost of feed, which constitutes 60 percent of production costs; the burden of disease, including transboundary diseases such as AI; illegal imports of cheap poultry products; finance shortages and infrastructure gaps,” reads AFSRTS 2.
According to the new agriculture blueprint, broiler production is expected to reach 362 000 tonnes valued at US$3 billion by 2030, while egg production is projected to increase from 94 million dozen to 131 million dozen (valued at US600 million) by 2030.-herald
