Uzima Chicken Ltd, one of the biggest chick producing firms in Rwanda has started exporting day-old chicks to different African countries.
Theoneste Sikubwabo, Sales and Marketing Manager at Uzima Chicken Ltd announced the development and said the move aims to boost the country’s poultry sector. The firm commenced the process with exporting exported about 600,000 day-old chicks, and about 100,000 hatching (fertilised) eggs (which are hatched by customers themselves in the export countries).
Sikubwabo said the company was exporting day-old chicks to Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroon (for fertilised eggs, but with a plan to also export chicks), Congo Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and Uganda.
2022 plans
As of 2017, chicks reared in Rwanda were mainly imported from Europe, and some African countries, including Uganda. Figures from RAB show that in 2017, Rwanda was importing some 50,000 day-old chicks and 100 tonnes of eggs per month. It is to note that Rwanda’s poultry was still in its nascent stage by then, with very few large-scale farms.
Currently, three major poultry firms namely Uzima Chicken, easyHATCH, and Chief Chicks (which is a subsidiary of Poultry East Africa), are producing most of the chicks needed in the country. Sikubwabo also said that next month, the firm is expected to start exporting day-old chicks to Ghana – with an initial 15,000 chicks on February 15.
“This year (2022), we have a plan to export 1.2 million day-old chicks, and 400,000 hatching eggs. The export market is profitable and helps the country to generate foreign revenues to balance its trade. And, those countries are appreciating the quality of our chicks,” he noted.
Currently, he said that Uzima Chicken is producing over one million day-old chicks per month, adding that the company can increase the capacity if the demand for that is there. Its current production comprises 500,000 chicks for SASSO (dual-purpose chickens – for both egg and meat production), 400,000 chicks for broilers, and 150,000 for layers which are supplied to both local poultry farmers and those in export countries.
