By KENNEDY MUPESENI –

THE increase in chicken feed is likely to push some poultry farmers out of business if there are no measures to reduce the impact.
The Poultry Association of Zambia (PAZ) says the rising costs of feed have left a lot of small and medium poultry farmers considering suspending their farming operations.
Prices of feed have been on the rise since the first quarter of the year following an upward adjustment in prices of key ingredients as well as the depreciation of the Kwacha against other convertible currencies.
In its quarterly publication, PAZ Newsletter, the association says small scale poultry farmers could fail to continue meeting the increased production costs.
“It has been predicted by industry players that if the present crisis is not addressed and the market forces do not control the situation, a lot more farmers may be forced out of the market, which may result in reduced supply of eggs and chickens,” partly reads the newsletter.
It states that small and medium scale poultry farmers represent a significant number of the industry, would be unable to meet the overhead costs of sustaining the operations, with the feed prices as
high as K205 per 50 kilogramme bag of broiler starter feeds.
Broiler prices in Lusaka have gone up by 15 per cent since July 2014, pushing the prices of eggs by five per cent.
Owing to the rise in feed prices alone; the cost of broiler production among small scale farmers went up by at least six per cent in the first quarter of 2015.
On March 10 2015 Novatek , a  subsidiary of Zambeef Products Plc, announced  a 10 per cent price increment due to the depreciation of the local currency as most of the transactions by the company are quoted in United States Dollar.