The increase in demand for white meat in the country due to health concerns has opened massive opportunities for income generating activities in rural areas where the jobless lot are engaged in the production sector.
The demand for white meat especially for poultry and fish appears to have gained some considerable niche in the market for related products creating avenues for the market in the noe lucrative market.
According to HPP Exhibition manager Michelle Mwangi that has organized the Kenya Poultry Expo slated for May 23-25 2023 at the Sarit Centre, Nairobi the rise in Kenya is driven by an emerging middle-class created in existing and new urban settlements as a result of Devolution.
The development is opening massive employment opportunities especially in the rural areas with huge untapped potential
She said to feed the country’s appetite, an estimated 1.5 million birds are slaughtered weekly from a population of some 35 million fowls being fed for meeting the increasing demand.
She added that contrary to popular belief that only chicken is reared for commercial purposes, turkeys, geese, guinea fowls and the ‘infamous’ quail are delicacies in many dining tables where at least a member is cautious of his of their health.
It widely believed that white meat poses less risk to lifestyles diseases that are widely blamed to terminal ailments especially among the aged population in the middle and upper class cadre of the society.
Mwangi noted that in the chicken category , 75 per cent of the consumed products were indigenous while the 22 per cent was exotic s broilers and layers and 1 percent is breeding stock.
She said that due to the high demand and resilient of the Kienyeji chicken, the market has seen a number of varieties led by the Kenya Agriculture and Livestock Research Organization bred Improved Kienyeji, Kuroilers, Rainbow, Rooster Kenbro and Sasso among others.
“While chicken is every farmer’s choice, the Turkey earns more money but the rising demand at the consumer level was fueled by a sharp increase in demand for white meat products necessitates the need for an exhibition to showcase the various birds rearing technologies and practices required for a successful venture”, said Ms Mwangi.
She added, “A growing retail sector with food branches, fast food outlets, and restaurants has created a readily available outlet for chicken and eggs completing the chain and fueling the demand”.
“ We wish to bring together players in the poultry industry under one roof to give the country a chance to share the emerging technologies in the sector and to put the industry into perspective as a key player in the country’s economy’, said Ms Mwangi.
Mwangi said the exhibition would show case the latest technologies and practices of poultry farming covering production, genetics, nutrition, feed, health but marketing, operations and cost management and other critical factors for successful investment in the sector.
HPP Exhibitions promotes companies active in the fields of Floriculture and Horticulture through international exhibitions all over the world and are the organizers of the world’s best flower show, IFTEX, an annual flower industry show that takes place in Nairobi.
Over the past two decades, poultry has become the most consumed livestock commodity in the world, especially in developing and emerging markets where production prospects have been relatively limited.
As demand for poultry products grew in these markets during the period from 2001 to 2021, global imports increased. Poultry is expected to remain the world’s largest imported livestock commodity by volume over the next 10 years.
By Wangari Ndirangu
