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Egg production in Africa
3 Egg production in Africa H. M. Tukur, Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Nigeria
Abstract: Egg production in Africa is estimated at 2 367 000 tonnes per annum (representing only 3.7% of the global egg output). There is considerable variation among countries – from as high as 533 000 tonnes for Nigeria to as low as 1000 tonnes for countries such as Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Gambia, Guinea and Swaziland. This low level of productivity translates into low per capita egg consumption of 36 eggs/person/year, much lower than the world average of 145 eggs. The low performance of the poultry industry in Africa could be attributed to the inefficient scavenging management system that is predominant in most rural communities. Improvement of the performance of the industry could be achieved by adapting more efficient production systems. Key words: egg production and consumption in Africa, egg production systems in Africa.
3.1 Introduction Africa is the second largest continent in the world (after Asia), with a land area of 30.2 million km2 (equivalent to 6 and 20.4% of the total surface and land area of the earth respectively). With a population of about 1 billion people, it is also the second most populous continent. Poultry farming is an important aspect of the continent’s agricultural activity, and plays a role in sustaining the livelihoods of a number of rural communities. Like in other continents, the domestic chicken (Gallus domesticus) is the most widely reared poultry specie in Africa, consisting of the specialized egg and meat © Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2011
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28 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products types as well as the dual purpose local species predominant in virtually all African villages.
3.2 Egg production As at 2007, total egg production in Africa was estimated at 2 367 000 tonnes (representing 3.7% of the global egg output), with considerable variation among countries (FAO 2009). African countries can therefore be categorized into three groups on the basis of egg production (Fig. 3.1): ∑
High egg producing countries. The highest egg producing country in Africa is Nigeria, with a total output of 553 000 tonnes per annum; followed by South Africa (435 000), Egypt (240 000), Morocco (200 000), Algeria (185 000), Tunisia (85 000), Kenya (69 000) and Libya (60 000). Tunisia Morocco 200
85 Algeria 185
Egypt 240
Libya 60 Cape Verde 2
Gambia Guinea
Mauritania 5
Mali 11
Senega 1 3
Niger 8
Chad 1
Sudan 47
48 Burkina Faso Guinea Bemin Nigeria 21 Côte Ghana 11 Bissau 1 553 9 13 d’lvoire Sierra Leone Central African 5 25 Cameroon Republic 1 Liberia 13 Togo Eq. Guinea 8 Congo 0.2 Gabon 1 Congo DR São Tomé and Príncipe 2 25 0.5
2
Eritrea Djibouti
Ethiopia 38
Somalia 3
Uganda Kenya 21 69
Rwanda 2 Burundi 3
Tanzania 37 Egg production [thousand tonnes] High [>50]
Malawi 20 Angola 4
Medium [10–50] Low [<10]
Namibia 3
Zambia 47 Zimbabwe 22 Botswana 3
South Africa 435
2 Lesotho
Seychelles 2
Mozambique 14 Madagascar 20 Comoros 1
Mauritius 7
Swaziland 1
Fig. 3.1 Map of Africa showing egg production values.
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Egg production in Africa 29 These eight countries (15% of the number of countries in Africa), with a combined population of 396 million (representing 41% of the population of the continent), produce 1 827 000 tonnes, equivalent to 77% of the continental egg output. ∑ Medium egg producing countries: 17 countries (33% of the number of countries in the continent) belong to this category; with a total population of 389 million, also representing 41% of the population of the continent. These countries produce 453 000 tonnes per year, representing 19% of the egg production for the continent. Production levels vary from 11 000 tonnes for countries like Benin and Mali to 47 000 tonnes for Sudan and Zambia, with an average of 26 647 tonnes per country. ∑ Low egg producing countries: 25 countries (48% of the countries in Africa) are in this category; with a total population of 176 million, equivalent to 18% of the population of the continent. Total egg production for these countries is 87,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to only 4% of the total continental output. Here also, production varies from as low as 1000 tonnes for countries like Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Gambia, Guinea and Swaziland to 9000 tonnes for Sierra Leone, with an average of 3480 tonnes per country. Egg production in Africa rose by 29% (from 1.7 to 2.4 million tonnes) from 1994 to 2007, representing an increase of 2.2% per annum (Fig. 3.2). This rate of growth is close to the world average of 2.4% during the last ten years. The rate of increase in egg production varies greatly among countries. Those with the highest increase are Swaziland (68%), Senegal (64%), Guinea (54%), Guinea Bissau (51%), Ghana (49%), São Tomé and Príncipe (47%), South Africa (41%), Benin (41%) and Algeria (40%). Some countries recorded decrease in egg production during the same period. They are: Eritrea (–130%), Congo DR (–19%), Burundi (–17%), and Mali (–13.1%). Countries in which the industry recorded low level of growth (i.e. less than 10% increase) are: 2.2
2.3
2.4
1.9 1.7
1994–1996
1999–2001
2005
2006
2007
Fig. 3.2 Egg production in Africa between 1994 and 2007 (million tonnes) (source: FAO 2009).
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30 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products Angola, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Malawi, Morocco, Niger, Somalia and Tanzania. The remaining countries witnessed moderate increase of 10 to 39% in egg production during the same period.
3.3 Egg consumption, marketing and trade Most of the eggs produced in Africa are consumed locally – especially in urban centres. There is, however, some level of international egg trade. Even though the value of agricultural imports to Africa declined from 32.1% in 1994 to 18.5% in 2007, the value of food in agricultural imports remained relatively constant (average of 82%). However, share of eggs in food imports increased from 0.2% to 2.78% during the same period (Fig. 3.3). In monetary terms, the value of egg imports into Africa rose from 34 million USD in 1994 to 97 million in 2007 (country average of 0.7 to 2.4 million USD) (Fig. 3.4), with considerable variation among countries. The highest egg importing countries are Angola, Botswana, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland and Tunisia. In 2007, these countries imported eggs worth 83 million USD, equivalent to 86% for the whole continent. Export values fluctuated between 1994 and 2007, with an average value of 10.2 million USD (Fig. 3.4). Generally, import and export values are related to egg production levels. Thus average values of imports for the low, medium and high egg producing countries were 2.4, 2.7 and 1.1 million USD, respectively in 2007. Inversely, export values were higher for the high egg producing countries (0.8 million USD) compared with the low and medium egg producing countries (0.1 million USD) (Fig. 3.5). In terms of quantity, data from 16 African countries show that total imports averaged 7.5% of total production, while exports (data from eight 100
Percent
80 Share of agricultural imports in total imports
60
Share of food in agricultural imports
40 20
Share of eggs in food imports
07 20
06 20
20
05
1 00 –2 99 19
19
94
–1
99
6
0
Fig. 3.3 Importation of agricultural products, food and eggs into Africa between 1994 and 2007 (source: FAO 2009).
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Egg production in Africa 31 Value of imports
97
Value of exports 78 64
46 34
13
13
12
7
1994–1996
6
1999–2001
2005
2006
2007
Fig. 3.4 Value of imports and exports of eggs (million USD) for Africa from 1994 to 2007 (source: FAO 2009). Value of imports of eggs Value of exports of eggs
2707 2464
1094 774
114 Low egg producing countries
113 Medium egg producing countries
High egg producing countries
Fig. 3.5 Import and export values of eggs (thousand USD) for low, medium and high egg producing African countries (source: FAO 2009).
countries) represent 5.7% of production. In addition, international egg trade in Africa is mostly between countries within the continent. Thus, assuming that all the eggs produced in the continent are consumed locally, per capita egg consumption (calculated from population figures and egg production values for 2007; FAO 2009) averages 2 kg/year, equivalent to 36 eggs/person/ year; which is much lower than the world average of 145 eggs. As noted for egg production, there is considerable variation in egg consumption among African countries (Fig. 3.6): ∑
Countries with high per capita egg consumption: The only African countries whose egg consumption level is above 100/person/year are Libya (174), South Africa (158), Tunisia (151) and Morocco (114). The total population of these five countries is 97 million, representing only 10% of the population of the continent.
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32 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products Tunisia 151
Morocco 114 Algeria 98
Cape Verde 73
Mauritania 30
Mali 15
Senega Gambia 9 48
Egypt 54
Libya 174
Niger 10
Chad 7
Sudan 21
58 Burkina Faso Guinea Guinea Bemin Nigeria 67 39 Côte Bissau 14 Ghana 23 29 d’lvoire 20 Sierra Leone Central African 22 Liberia 24 CameroonRepublic 4 Togo 13 23 Eq. Guinea Congo Congo DR Gabon 5 2 São Tomé and Príncipe 25 55
7
Eritrea Djibouti
Ethiopia 9
Uganda Kenya 12 33
Somalia 6
Rwanda 4 Burundi 7
Tanzania 16
Per capita egg consumption High [>100] Medium [50–100] Low [<50]
Angola 4
Namibia 29
Zambia 68
Malawi 24
Zimbabwe Mozambique 11 32 Comoros Botswana 17 30
South Lesotho Africa 14 158
Madagascar 18 Mauritius 98
Swaziland 15
Fig. 3.6 Map of Africa showing per capita egg consumption (no./person/year).
∑
∑
Countries with medium per capita egg consumption – i.e. between 50 to 100 eggs/year. Only seven countries (13% of the number of countries in the continent) fall in this category. They are Algeria (98), Mauritius (98), Cape Verde (73), Zambia (68), Nigeria (67), Burkina Faso (58) and Egypt (54) (Fig. 3.6), with a combined population of 290 million, representing 30% of the population of the continent (Fig. 3.6). Countries with low per capita egg consumption – i.e. less than 50 eggs/ year. Thirty eight countries (73% of the countries in the continent) fall in this category (Fig. 3.6). The total population of these countries is 587 million, representing 60% of the population of the continent. Here, consumption varies from as low as less than ten for Congo DR (2), Angola (4), Central African Republic (4), Rwanda (4), Congo (5), Somalia (6), Burundi (7), Chad (7), Eritria (7) and Ethiopia (9) to over
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Egg production in Africa 33 30 for Zimbabwe (32), Kenya (33), Guinea (39) and Senegal (48), with an average of 18 eggs/country. Even though egg production in Africa rose by 29% from 1994 to 2007 (with an annual increase of 2.4% per annum), per capita egg consumption increased by only 5.6% (i.e. from 34 to 36 eggs) during the same period. This is mainly due to the increase in population which rose by 25% during the same period (i.e. from 725 million to 962 million).
3.4
The production system
Like in other continents of the world, the domestic chicken is the most widely reared poultry species in Africa. FAO (2009) estimated the total chicken population in Africa at 1.4 billion heads, which varies considerably among countries. Thus, it is as low as 420 000 for São Tomé and Príncipe and as high as 166 million for Nigeria. In general chicken population is related to egg production – i.e. it is higher for the high egg-producing countries and vice versa. These chickens, both the improved exotic hybrids and the local domestic chickens, are reared under different production systems, the characteristics of which are outlined in Table 3.1. 3.4.1 The intensive and semi-intensive systems On average, 20% of the chicken population in Africa, comprising mainly the exotic hybrid layers and broilers are raised under these systems of management. The proportion of layers seems to vary greatly among countries, as data from eight countries show that it ranges from 2 to 67%. Productivity of birds under this system of management varies between 250 to 300 eggs/ bird/year (Pym et al. 2010), depending on the intensity of the management system. Farmers operating these systems of management obtain feed from three different sources: 1. Custom millers: These are feed companies that mill and market feeds under registered trade names. 2. Toll millers: These are individuals who own feed mills located in strategic places in some urban centres. They are patronized by small holder farmers in an effort to reduce the cost of feed. The farmers bring their ingredients to the toll millers who compound the feed for them at a certain price. Some of the toll millers also stock feed ingredients that can be purchased by farmers. By this arrangement, farmers are able to obtain feed at a cheaper cost compared with that sold by the custom millers. 3. Integrated farms own feed mills and produce feed for their own use. The major ingredients used in poultry feeding in Africa are available
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34 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products Table 3.1 Characteristics of poultry production systems in Africa Characteristic
Production system Intensive
Semi-intensive
Scavenging
Breed Specialized
Specialized and dual purpose
Local indigenous types
Housing
Varies from modern to simple types made with locally available materials
Specific housing is rare
Commercially compounded/home made mixtures/ scavenging
Scavenging and occasional feeding with home grains and household refuse
Modern, in some cases with internally regulated environment
Feed Commercially or on-farm compounded
Health care Standard and Disease control and regular health care programme at varying levels
No regular health care programme or disease control measures
Marketing channels
No formal marketing channels (rural/urban)
Well defined (export and urban)
Less defined (urban/rural)
Infrastructure Water, electricity Moderate infrastructure Underdeveloped and communication depending on proximity infrastructure available to urban centres Storage and Dressed birds (and processing of in some cases table products eggs) refrigerated
Minimum refrigeration, No refrigeration. occasional dressing Sale of live birds of birds and eggs
Technology/ Formal training/ Moderate formal information extension services training and extension mostly available services
Use of local knowledge with moderate or no extension services
Food security High of owner
From Ok to bad
Ok
Adapted from Kitalayi (1998) and FAO (2009).
locally. The chemical composition of some of these ingredients is shown in Table 3.2. Availability varies among countries, thus there is some level of international trade to balance supply. For example, in 2005, Nigeria imported 23 000 tonnes of soybeans and exported 9000 tonnes of the same feed stuff. Synthetic lysine and methionine (though required in small amounts in poultry diets) are critical ingredients that are not readily available in most African countries. Thus, in 2005, Nigeria imported 828 760 tonnes of these two ingredients from Asia and Europe. In Nigeria, feed availability is still a problem in some parts of the country. For example, farmers in north-western Nigeria mostly rely on custom millers for feed supply, and the nearest company that services these farms is located in the central part of the country – about 600 km away. Thus delay © Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2011
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Egg production in Africa 35 Table 3.2 Chemical composition of some locally available feed ingredients in northern Nigeria Feed ingredient Dry CP matter (%) Energy Sources Cereals White maize Yellow maize Yellow sorghum Red sorghum Millet (Adamawa) Millet (Sokoto)
91.2 92.0 89.6 92.0 92.4 91.0
Fat Ash Ca
4.3 4.9 3.5 3.3 6.3 6.0
1.2 1.3 1.7 2.3 1.9 1.9
P
– – – – – –
Fibre
ME (kcal/kg)
0.10 10.1 0.16 10.6 0.27 8.8 0.47 10.4 0.33 8.2 0.44 8.4
3667 3672 3669 3550 3811 3794
11.1 10.5 3.9 – 5.8 6.0 23.5 – 6.4 4.9 19.6 – 17.8 8.4 4.9 – 10.6 7.2 11.0 – 18.7 4.1 5.8 – 16.9 4.3 6.0 –
0.66 0.51 0.57 0.23 0.49 0.22 1.29
27.9 56.9 50.2 28.9 28.5 37.2 44.3
3023 486 930 2830 2462 2208 1894
95.1
39.5 22.6 5.0 –
0.69 12.4
4231
94.2
45.8 11.6 6.0 –
0.66 15.8
3509
93.4
47.3 14.5 7.5 –
0.69 13.4
3675
Cereal by-products Maize bran (Sokoto) 91.4 Rice offal (parboiled) 92.9 Rice offal (non-parboiled) 92.8 Millet bran (processed) 89.5 Millet bran (unprocessed) 91.7 Sorghum offal (red) 91.8 Wheat offal 91.5
8.8 10.3 7.8 11.8 13.3 10.9
Nutrients composition (% dry matter)
Protein sources Groundnut cake (Sokoto local) Groundnut cake (Sokoto industrial) Groundnut cake (Kaduna industrial) Soya bean meal (Kano industrial) Palm kernel meal Cotton seed cake
92.7
48.3
3.2 11.1 –
0.68 21.5
2585
93.7 94.2
16.3 22.8
3.4 8.8 5.5 6.8
0.62 67.3 0.71 53.3
676 1501
Sources of Ca and P Oyster shell Bone meal (Sokoto) Bone meal (Kaduna) Limestone (Sokoto)
99.9 99.5 98.6 98.6
– – – –
– – – –
99.5 98.2 87.6 97.3
0.21 0.25 35.0 27.0 26.0 35.0
0.03 13.0 13.6 0.18
– – – –
– – – –
in supplies does arise as a result of logistical problems, thus putting farmers under great inconvenience. Feed shortages are also encountered during peak periods of activity – especially during periods of festivities (such as the Eid and Christmas periods) when farmers increase their stocks to meet the high demand. Although exotic broilers and layers are the two types of poultry species raised under these systems, other poultry species are also reared by farmers (Table 3.3), mostly semi-intensively. A recent survey in north-western Nigeria indicated that these different species of poultry are reared in different combinations (Fig. 3.7). © Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2011
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36 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products Table 3.3 Incidence of other poultry species in some African countries Country
Specie
Occurrence (%)
Morocco
Turkeys
3.5
Guinea
Ducks
2.5
Nigeria
Guinea fowls Ducks Turkeys
5.0 2.4 0.3
Burkina Faso
Ducks Turkeys
0.6 0.1
Tanzania
Ducks Turkeys
2.0 0.3
Togo
Turkeys
0.2
Tunisia
Turkeys
7.9
Egypt
Turkeys Ducks
0.7 4.7
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Fig. 3.7 Flock composition (%) of poultry farms in Sokoto and Kebbi States, north western Nigeria: 1 layers and broilers; 2 layers only; 3 broilers only; 4 layers, broilers and cockerels; 5 cockerels only; 6 layers and cockerels; 7 layers, broilers and turkeys; 8 broilers and cockerels; 9 broilers and geese; 10 broilers and turkeys; 11 broilers and pigeons; 12 layers, broilers, guinea fowls and geese, 13 layers and turkeys, 14 layers, geese and ostrich; 15 layers, broilers, turkeys and pigeons; 16 layers, broilers, guinea fowls, turkeys and geese.
3.4.2 The extensive (scavenging) system This is the predominant system of management in Africa, involving mainly the indigenous domestic fowl, comprising up to 50 local types (Kitalyi 1998). They comprise about 80% of the chicken population in most African countries (Goodger et al. 2002). They are dual purpose – i.e. kept for both eggs and meat. The ratio of chicks : growers : adults in the scavenging system © Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2011
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Egg production in Africa 37 has been estimated to vary from 3:2:1 to 1:1:2, while the ratio of adult males to females is reported to be about 1:3. From these data, Pym et al. (2010) estimated that the proportion of adult hens in the indigenous chicken flocks is 25%. These birds lay on average 40–60 eggs per year in three or four clutches. In a typical clutch of 10–16 eggs, only about 2–4 are kept for consumption or sale, because the remainder are set for the hen to hatch. This therefore amounts to 16 eggs/hen/year, compared with 250–300 eggs per hybrid layer (Gueye 1998). Thus egg production of the local chicken is only about 6% that of the hybrid layer (Pym et al. 2010). Even though efforts to introduce high yielding chicken breeds date back to the 1920s, indigenous chickens are still predominant in most African villages, because most local farmers are unable to meet the high input requirements (housing, feed, health care, etc.) of the high yielding exotic breeds (Kaiser 1990; Safalaoh 1997). In addition, the indigenous breeds have been shown to be more disease resistant, more capable of utilizing low quality feeds, and have greater capacity for survival under the scavenging conditions than the commercial hybrids (Horst 1988, Ferrell et al. 2000). Improving the productivity of the local chicken will therefore be expected to increase egg supply in Africa. This can be achieved through gradual evolution of the scavenging system to at least the semi-intensive system of management.
3.5 Conclusion Egg production in Africa is low compared with other parts of the world. With a population of 963 million, the continent accounts for only 3.7% of the global output; while Europe, with a population close to that of Africa, accounts for about 17% of the global egg production. Thus egg consumption in Africa averages 36 eggs/person/year, which is below the world average of 145. Even though egg production in Africa has been on the rise since 1994, per capita egg consumption has remained very low due to the rising population. The low performance of the poultry industry in Africa can be attributed to the inefficient extensive system of management that is predominant among farmers. Improvement can be achieved by gradual evolution from the scavenging management system to a more productive system of management.
3.6 References (2009). Statistical Year Book, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. ferrell d.j., bagust, t.j., pym r.a.e and sheldon b.l (2000). Strategies for improving the production of scavenging chickens. Asian-Aus. J. Anim. Sci. 13 (Supplement): 79–85. fao
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38 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products goodger w.j., bennet t.b.
and dwinger r.h. (2002). Corporate analysis of family poultry production in twelve African countries. In: Characteristics and parameters of family poultry production in Africa. IAEA, Vienna, pp. 33–37. gueye e.h.f. (1998). Village egg and fowl meat production in Africa. World Poultry Sci. J. 54: 73–86. horst p. (1988). Native fowl as areservoir for genomes and major genes with direct and indirect effects on productive adaptability. Proc. 18th World’s Poultry Congress. Japan, pp. 99–104. kaiser d. (1990). Improvement of traditional poultry keeping in Niger. In: Proceedings, CTA Seminar. 3rd International Symposium on Poultry Production in Hot Climates. Heinman, Germany, 12 June 1987. kitalyi a.j. (1998). Village chicken production systems in rural Africa: Household food security and gender issues. FAO Corporate Document Repository. www.fao.org/ DOCREP/003/W8989E/W8989E00,HTM. Accessed 24 September 2010. pym r.a.e, guerne bleich e. and hoffmann i. (2010). The relative contribution of indigenous chicken breeds to poultry meat and egg production and consumption in Africa. www. dostoc.com/docs/24836509 Accessed 19 November 2010. safalaoh a.c.l. (1997). Characteristics of indigenous chickens of Malawi. Animal Genetic Resources Information, 22: 61–69.
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Abstract: Egg production in Africa is estimated at 2 367 000 tonnes per annum (representing only 3.7% of the global egg output). There is considerable variation among countries – from as high as 533 000 tonnes for Nigeria to as low as 1000 tonnes for countries such as Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Gambia, Guinea and Swaziland. This low level of productivity translates into low per capita egg consumption of 36 eggs/person/year, much lower than the world average of 145 eggs. The low performance of the poultry industry in Africa could be attributed to the inefficient scavenging management system that is predominant in most rural communities. Improvement of the performance of the industry could be achieved by adapting more efficient production systems. Key words: egg production and consumption in Africa, egg production systems in Africa.
3.1 Introduction Africa is the second largest continent in the world (after Asia), with a land area of 30.2 million km2 (equivalent to 6 and 20.4% of the total surface and land area of the earth respectively). With a population of about 1 billion people, it is also the second most populous continent. Poultry farming is an important aspect of the continent’s agricultural activity, and plays a role in sustaining the livelihoods of a number of rural communities. Like in other continents, the domestic chicken (Gallus domesticus) is the most widely reared poultry specie in Africa, consisting of the specialized egg and meat © Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2011
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28 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products types as well as the dual purpose local species predominant in virtually all African villages.
3.2 Egg production As at 2007, total egg production in Africa was estimated at 2 367 000 tonnes (representing 3.7% of the global egg output), with considerable variation among countries (FAO 2009). African countries can therefore be categorized into three groups on the basis of egg production (Fig. 3.1): ∑
High egg producing countries. The highest egg producing country in Africa is Nigeria, with a total output of 553 000 tonnes per annum; followed by South Africa (435 000), Egypt (240 000), Morocco (200 000), Algeria (185 000), Tunisia (85 000), Kenya (69 000) and Libya (60 000). Tunisia Morocco 200
85 Algeria 185
Egypt 240
Libya 60 Cape Verde 2
Gambia Guinea
Mauritania 5
Mali 11
Senega 1 3
Niger 8
Chad 1
Sudan 47
48 Burkina Faso Guinea Bemin Nigeria 21 Côte Ghana 11 Bissau 1 553 9 13 d’lvoire Sierra Leone Central African 5 25 Cameroon Republic 1 Liberia 13 Togo Eq. Guinea 8 Congo 0.2 Gabon 1 Congo DR São Tomé and Príncipe 2 25 0.5
2
Eritrea Djibouti
Ethiopia 38
Somalia 3
Uganda Kenya 21 69
Rwanda 2 Burundi 3
Tanzania 37 Egg production [thousand tonnes] High [>50]
Malawi 20 Angola 4
Medium [10–50] Low [<10]
Namibia 3
Zambia 47 Zimbabwe 22 Botswana 3
South Africa 435
2 Lesotho
Seychelles 2
Mozambique 14 Madagascar 20 Comoros 1
Mauritius 7
Swaziland 1
Fig. 3.1 Map of Africa showing egg production values.
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Egg production in Africa 29 These eight countries (15% of the number of countries in Africa), with a combined population of 396 million (representing 41% of the population of the continent), produce 1 827 000 tonnes, equivalent to 77% of the continental egg output. ∑ Medium egg producing countries: 17 countries (33% of the number of countries in the continent) belong to this category; with a total population of 389 million, also representing 41% of the population of the continent. These countries produce 453 000 tonnes per year, representing 19% of the egg production for the continent. Production levels vary from 11 000 tonnes for countries like Benin and Mali to 47 000 tonnes for Sudan and Zambia, with an average of 26 647 tonnes per country. ∑ Low egg producing countries: 25 countries (48% of the countries in Africa) are in this category; with a total population of 176 million, equivalent to 18% of the population of the continent. Total egg production for these countries is 87,000 tonnes per year, equivalent to only 4% of the total continental output. Here also, production varies from as low as 1000 tonnes for countries like Central African Republic, Comoros, Congo, Gambia, Guinea and Swaziland to 9000 tonnes for Sierra Leone, with an average of 3480 tonnes per country. Egg production in Africa rose by 29% (from 1.7 to 2.4 million tonnes) from 1994 to 2007, representing an increase of 2.2% per annum (Fig. 3.2). This rate of growth is close to the world average of 2.4% during the last ten years. The rate of increase in egg production varies greatly among countries. Those with the highest increase are Swaziland (68%), Senegal (64%), Guinea (54%), Guinea Bissau (51%), Ghana (49%), São Tomé and Príncipe (47%), South Africa (41%), Benin (41%) and Algeria (40%). Some countries recorded decrease in egg production during the same period. They are: Eritrea (–130%), Congo DR (–19%), Burundi (–17%), and Mali (–13.1%). Countries in which the industry recorded low level of growth (i.e. less than 10% increase) are: 2.2
2.3
2.4
1.9 1.7
1994–1996
1999–2001
2005
2006
2007
Fig. 3.2 Egg production in Africa between 1994 and 2007 (million tonnes) (source: FAO 2009).
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30 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products Angola, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Malawi, Morocco, Niger, Somalia and Tanzania. The remaining countries witnessed moderate increase of 10 to 39% in egg production during the same period.
3.3 Egg consumption, marketing and trade Most of the eggs produced in Africa are consumed locally – especially in urban centres. There is, however, some level of international egg trade. Even though the value of agricultural imports to Africa declined from 32.1% in 1994 to 18.5% in 2007, the value of food in agricultural imports remained relatively constant (average of 82%). However, share of eggs in food imports increased from 0.2% to 2.78% during the same period (Fig. 3.3). In monetary terms, the value of egg imports into Africa rose from 34 million USD in 1994 to 97 million in 2007 (country average of 0.7 to 2.4 million USD) (Fig. 3.4), with considerable variation among countries. The highest egg importing countries are Angola, Botswana, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia, Libya, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Swaziland and Tunisia. In 2007, these countries imported eggs worth 83 million USD, equivalent to 86% for the whole continent. Export values fluctuated between 1994 and 2007, with an average value of 10.2 million USD (Fig. 3.4). Generally, import and export values are related to egg production levels. Thus average values of imports for the low, medium and high egg producing countries were 2.4, 2.7 and 1.1 million USD, respectively in 2007. Inversely, export values were higher for the high egg producing countries (0.8 million USD) compared with the low and medium egg producing countries (0.1 million USD) (Fig. 3.5). In terms of quantity, data from 16 African countries show that total imports averaged 7.5% of total production, while exports (data from eight 100
Percent
80 Share of agricultural imports in total imports
60
Share of food in agricultural imports
40 20
Share of eggs in food imports
07 20
06 20
20
05
1 00 –2 99 19
19
94
–1
99
6
0
Fig. 3.3 Importation of agricultural products, food and eggs into Africa between 1994 and 2007 (source: FAO 2009).
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Egg production in Africa 31 Value of imports
97
Value of exports 78 64
46 34
13
13
12
7
1994–1996
6
1999–2001
2005
2006
2007
Fig. 3.4 Value of imports and exports of eggs (million USD) for Africa from 1994 to 2007 (source: FAO 2009). Value of imports of eggs Value of exports of eggs
2707 2464
1094 774
114 Low egg producing countries
113 Medium egg producing countries
High egg producing countries
Fig. 3.5 Import and export values of eggs (thousand USD) for low, medium and high egg producing African countries (source: FAO 2009).
countries) represent 5.7% of production. In addition, international egg trade in Africa is mostly between countries within the continent. Thus, assuming that all the eggs produced in the continent are consumed locally, per capita egg consumption (calculated from population figures and egg production values for 2007; FAO 2009) averages 2 kg/year, equivalent to 36 eggs/person/ year; which is much lower than the world average of 145 eggs. As noted for egg production, there is considerable variation in egg consumption among African countries (Fig. 3.6): ∑
Countries with high per capita egg consumption: The only African countries whose egg consumption level is above 100/person/year are Libya (174), South Africa (158), Tunisia (151) and Morocco (114). The total population of these five countries is 97 million, representing only 10% of the population of the continent.
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32 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products Tunisia 151
Morocco 114 Algeria 98
Cape Verde 73
Mauritania 30
Mali 15
Senega Gambia 9 48
Egypt 54
Libya 174
Niger 10
Chad 7
Sudan 21
58 Burkina Faso Guinea Guinea Bemin Nigeria 67 39 Côte Bissau 14 Ghana 23 29 d’lvoire 20 Sierra Leone Central African 22 Liberia 24 CameroonRepublic 4 Togo 13 23 Eq. Guinea Congo Congo DR Gabon 5 2 São Tomé and Príncipe 25 55
7
Eritrea Djibouti
Ethiopia 9
Uganda Kenya 12 33
Somalia 6
Rwanda 4 Burundi 7
Tanzania 16
Per capita egg consumption High [>100] Medium [50–100] Low [<50]
Angola 4
Namibia 29
Zambia 68
Malawi 24
Zimbabwe Mozambique 11 32 Comoros Botswana 17 30
South Lesotho Africa 14 158
Madagascar 18 Mauritius 98
Swaziland 15
Fig. 3.6 Map of Africa showing per capita egg consumption (no./person/year).
∑
∑
Countries with medium per capita egg consumption – i.e. between 50 to 100 eggs/year. Only seven countries (13% of the number of countries in the continent) fall in this category. They are Algeria (98), Mauritius (98), Cape Verde (73), Zambia (68), Nigeria (67), Burkina Faso (58) and Egypt (54) (Fig. 3.6), with a combined population of 290 million, representing 30% of the population of the continent (Fig. 3.6). Countries with low per capita egg consumption – i.e. less than 50 eggs/ year. Thirty eight countries (73% of the countries in the continent) fall in this category (Fig. 3.6). The total population of these countries is 587 million, representing 60% of the population of the continent. Here, consumption varies from as low as less than ten for Congo DR (2), Angola (4), Central African Republic (4), Rwanda (4), Congo (5), Somalia (6), Burundi (7), Chad (7), Eritria (7) and Ethiopia (9) to over
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Egg production in Africa 33 30 for Zimbabwe (32), Kenya (33), Guinea (39) and Senegal (48), with an average of 18 eggs/country. Even though egg production in Africa rose by 29% from 1994 to 2007 (with an annual increase of 2.4% per annum), per capita egg consumption increased by only 5.6% (i.e. from 34 to 36 eggs) during the same period. This is mainly due to the increase in population which rose by 25% during the same period (i.e. from 725 million to 962 million).
3.4
The production system
Like in other continents of the world, the domestic chicken is the most widely reared poultry species in Africa. FAO (2009) estimated the total chicken population in Africa at 1.4 billion heads, which varies considerably among countries. Thus, it is as low as 420 000 for São Tomé and Príncipe and as high as 166 million for Nigeria. In general chicken population is related to egg production – i.e. it is higher for the high egg-producing countries and vice versa. These chickens, both the improved exotic hybrids and the local domestic chickens, are reared under different production systems, the characteristics of which are outlined in Table 3.1. 3.4.1 The intensive and semi-intensive systems On average, 20% of the chicken population in Africa, comprising mainly the exotic hybrid layers and broilers are raised under these systems of management. The proportion of layers seems to vary greatly among countries, as data from eight countries show that it ranges from 2 to 67%. Productivity of birds under this system of management varies between 250 to 300 eggs/ bird/year (Pym et al. 2010), depending on the intensity of the management system. Farmers operating these systems of management obtain feed from three different sources: 1. Custom millers: These are feed companies that mill and market feeds under registered trade names. 2. Toll millers: These are individuals who own feed mills located in strategic places in some urban centres. They are patronized by small holder farmers in an effort to reduce the cost of feed. The farmers bring their ingredients to the toll millers who compound the feed for them at a certain price. Some of the toll millers also stock feed ingredients that can be purchased by farmers. By this arrangement, farmers are able to obtain feed at a cheaper cost compared with that sold by the custom millers. 3. Integrated farms own feed mills and produce feed for their own use. The major ingredients used in poultry feeding in Africa are available
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34 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products Table 3.1 Characteristics of poultry production systems in Africa Characteristic
Production system Intensive
Semi-intensive
Scavenging
Breed Specialized
Specialized and dual purpose
Local indigenous types
Housing
Varies from modern to simple types made with locally available materials
Specific housing is rare
Commercially compounded/home made mixtures/ scavenging
Scavenging and occasional feeding with home grains and household refuse
Modern, in some cases with internally regulated environment
Feed Commercially or on-farm compounded
Health care Standard and Disease control and regular health care programme at varying levels
No regular health care programme or disease control measures
Marketing channels
No formal marketing channels (rural/urban)
Well defined (export and urban)
Less defined (urban/rural)
Infrastructure Water, electricity Moderate infrastructure Underdeveloped and communication depending on proximity infrastructure available to urban centres Storage and Dressed birds (and processing of in some cases table products eggs) refrigerated
Minimum refrigeration, No refrigeration. occasional dressing Sale of live birds of birds and eggs
Technology/ Formal training/ Moderate formal information extension services training and extension mostly available services
Use of local knowledge with moderate or no extension services
Food security High of owner
From Ok to bad
Ok
Adapted from Kitalayi (1998) and FAO (2009).
locally. The chemical composition of some of these ingredients is shown in Table 3.2. Availability varies among countries, thus there is some level of international trade to balance supply. For example, in 2005, Nigeria imported 23 000 tonnes of soybeans and exported 9000 tonnes of the same feed stuff. Synthetic lysine and methionine (though required in small amounts in poultry diets) are critical ingredients that are not readily available in most African countries. Thus, in 2005, Nigeria imported 828 760 tonnes of these two ingredients from Asia and Europe. In Nigeria, feed availability is still a problem in some parts of the country. For example, farmers in north-western Nigeria mostly rely on custom millers for feed supply, and the nearest company that services these farms is located in the central part of the country – about 600 km away. Thus delay © Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2011
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Egg production in Africa 35 Table 3.2 Chemical composition of some locally available feed ingredients in northern Nigeria Feed ingredient Dry CP matter (%) Energy Sources Cereals White maize Yellow maize Yellow sorghum Red sorghum Millet (Adamawa) Millet (Sokoto)
91.2 92.0 89.6 92.0 92.4 91.0
Fat Ash Ca
4.3 4.9 3.5 3.3 6.3 6.0
1.2 1.3 1.7 2.3 1.9 1.9
P
– – – – – –
Fibre
ME (kcal/kg)
0.10 10.1 0.16 10.6 0.27 8.8 0.47 10.4 0.33 8.2 0.44 8.4
3667 3672 3669 3550 3811 3794
11.1 10.5 3.9 – 5.8 6.0 23.5 – 6.4 4.9 19.6 – 17.8 8.4 4.9 – 10.6 7.2 11.0 – 18.7 4.1 5.8 – 16.9 4.3 6.0 –
0.66 0.51 0.57 0.23 0.49 0.22 1.29
27.9 56.9 50.2 28.9 28.5 37.2 44.3
3023 486 930 2830 2462 2208 1894
95.1
39.5 22.6 5.0 –
0.69 12.4
4231
94.2
45.8 11.6 6.0 –
0.66 15.8
3509
93.4
47.3 14.5 7.5 –
0.69 13.4
3675
Cereal by-products Maize bran (Sokoto) 91.4 Rice offal (parboiled) 92.9 Rice offal (non-parboiled) 92.8 Millet bran (processed) 89.5 Millet bran (unprocessed) 91.7 Sorghum offal (red) 91.8 Wheat offal 91.5
8.8 10.3 7.8 11.8 13.3 10.9
Nutrients composition (% dry matter)
Protein sources Groundnut cake (Sokoto local) Groundnut cake (Sokoto industrial) Groundnut cake (Kaduna industrial) Soya bean meal (Kano industrial) Palm kernel meal Cotton seed cake
92.7
48.3
3.2 11.1 –
0.68 21.5
2585
93.7 94.2
16.3 22.8
3.4 8.8 5.5 6.8
0.62 67.3 0.71 53.3
676 1501
Sources of Ca and P Oyster shell Bone meal (Sokoto) Bone meal (Kaduna) Limestone (Sokoto)
99.9 99.5 98.6 98.6
– – – –
– – – –
99.5 98.2 87.6 97.3
0.21 0.25 35.0 27.0 26.0 35.0
0.03 13.0 13.6 0.18
– – – –
– – – –
in supplies does arise as a result of logistical problems, thus putting farmers under great inconvenience. Feed shortages are also encountered during peak periods of activity – especially during periods of festivities (such as the Eid and Christmas periods) when farmers increase their stocks to meet the high demand. Although exotic broilers and layers are the two types of poultry species raised under these systems, other poultry species are also reared by farmers (Table 3.3), mostly semi-intensively. A recent survey in north-western Nigeria indicated that these different species of poultry are reared in different combinations (Fig. 3.7). © Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2011
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36 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products Table 3.3 Incidence of other poultry species in some African countries Country
Specie
Occurrence (%)
Morocco
Turkeys
3.5
Guinea
Ducks
2.5
Nigeria
Guinea fowls Ducks Turkeys
5.0 2.4 0.3
Burkina Faso
Ducks Turkeys
0.6 0.1
Tanzania
Ducks Turkeys
2.0 0.3
Togo
Turkeys
0.2
Tunisia
Turkeys
7.9
Egypt
Turkeys Ducks
0.7 4.7
50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
Fig. 3.7 Flock composition (%) of poultry farms in Sokoto and Kebbi States, north western Nigeria: 1 layers and broilers; 2 layers only; 3 broilers only; 4 layers, broilers and cockerels; 5 cockerels only; 6 layers and cockerels; 7 layers, broilers and turkeys; 8 broilers and cockerels; 9 broilers and geese; 10 broilers and turkeys; 11 broilers and pigeons; 12 layers, broilers, guinea fowls and geese, 13 layers and turkeys, 14 layers, geese and ostrich; 15 layers, broilers, turkeys and pigeons; 16 layers, broilers, guinea fowls, turkeys and geese.
3.4.2 The extensive (scavenging) system This is the predominant system of management in Africa, involving mainly the indigenous domestic fowl, comprising up to 50 local types (Kitalyi 1998). They comprise about 80% of the chicken population in most African countries (Goodger et al. 2002). They are dual purpose – i.e. kept for both eggs and meat. The ratio of chicks : growers : adults in the scavenging system © Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2011
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Egg production in Africa 37 has been estimated to vary from 3:2:1 to 1:1:2, while the ratio of adult males to females is reported to be about 1:3. From these data, Pym et al. (2010) estimated that the proportion of adult hens in the indigenous chicken flocks is 25%. These birds lay on average 40–60 eggs per year in three or four clutches. In a typical clutch of 10–16 eggs, only about 2–4 are kept for consumption or sale, because the remainder are set for the hen to hatch. This therefore amounts to 16 eggs/hen/year, compared with 250–300 eggs per hybrid layer (Gueye 1998). Thus egg production of the local chicken is only about 6% that of the hybrid layer (Pym et al. 2010). Even though efforts to introduce high yielding chicken breeds date back to the 1920s, indigenous chickens are still predominant in most African villages, because most local farmers are unable to meet the high input requirements (housing, feed, health care, etc.) of the high yielding exotic breeds (Kaiser 1990; Safalaoh 1997). In addition, the indigenous breeds have been shown to be more disease resistant, more capable of utilizing low quality feeds, and have greater capacity for survival under the scavenging conditions than the commercial hybrids (Horst 1988, Ferrell et al. 2000). Improving the productivity of the local chicken will therefore be expected to increase egg supply in Africa. This can be achieved through gradual evolution of the scavenging system to at least the semi-intensive system of management.
3.5 Conclusion Egg production in Africa is low compared with other parts of the world. With a population of 963 million, the continent accounts for only 3.7% of the global output; while Europe, with a population close to that of Africa, accounts for about 17% of the global egg production. Thus egg consumption in Africa averages 36 eggs/person/year, which is below the world average of 145. Even though egg production in Africa has been on the rise since 1994, per capita egg consumption has remained very low due to the rising population. The low performance of the poultry industry in Africa can be attributed to the inefficient extensive system of management that is predominant among farmers. Improvement can be achieved by gradual evolution from the scavenging management system to a more productive system of management.
3.6 References (2009). Statistical Year Book, Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. ferrell d.j., bagust, t.j., pym r.a.e and sheldon b.l (2000). Strategies for improving the production of scavenging chickens. Asian-Aus. J. Anim. Sci. 13 (Supplement): 79–85. fao
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38 Improving the safety and quality of eggs and egg products goodger w.j., bennet t.b.
and dwinger r.h. (2002). Corporate analysis of family poultry production in twelve African countries. In: Characteristics and parameters of family poultry production in Africa. IAEA, Vienna, pp. 33–37. gueye e.h.f. (1998). Village egg and fowl meat production in Africa. World Poultry Sci. J. 54: 73–86. horst p. (1988). Native fowl as areservoir for genomes and major genes with direct and indirect effects on productive adaptability. Proc. 18th World’s Poultry Congress. Japan, pp. 99–104. kaiser d. (1990). Improvement of traditional poultry keeping in Niger. In: Proceedings, CTA Seminar. 3rd International Symposium on Poultry Production in Hot Climates. Heinman, Germany, 12 June 1987. kitalyi a.j. (1998). Village chicken production systems in rural Africa: Household food security and gender issues. FAO Corporate Document Repository. www.fao.org/ DOCREP/003/W8989E/W8989E00,HTM. Accessed 24 September 2010. pym r.a.e, guerne bleich e. and hoffmann i. (2010). The relative contribution of indigenous chicken breeds to poultry meat and egg production and consumption in Africa. www. dostoc.com/docs/24836509 Accessed 19 November 2010. safalaoh a.c.l. (1997). Characteristics of indigenous chickens of Malawi. Animal Genetic Resources Information, 22: 61–69.
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