Dearth of chicken pecks poorer families more

. . . farmer says it’s a wake-up call for local supply chains

SEBONGILE MATHE

MASERU – It was Christmas many would want to forget fast. For many working class families already struggling to make ends meet, their meager resources could not substitute chicken with the pricey read meat. In their end festivities came and passed with barely any meaty protein on their tables since the shortage of chicken hit Lesotho retailers towards the end of last year.

Chicken remains the most affordable protein compared to red meat, but now due to the shortage chicken prices simply shot up beyond the reach of many.

One of the households that suffered because of chicken supply shortage was ’Mamookho Ntai’s family in Ha Leqele, Maseru. Ntai said her family had a very boring Christmas without chicken.

“The shortage of chicken and poultry products made our Christmas very boring,” said Ntai in an interview with Public Eye.

 “Chicken is more affordable than red meat, but I had to buy red meat because as a family we couldn’t spend our Christmas holidays without meat even though red meat is more expensive.” Another Ha Leqele resident, Thabiso Ntakha, said his family was struggling the most because his wife was a chicken farmer.

This is because they could not get their regular supply of day old chicks which normally come from South Africa but since the shortage a few months ago, such supplies dried up.

“My wife is a chicken farmer and so chicken supply shortage is a very serious challenge to my family,” said Ntakha.  “We are struggling because we rely on profit we make to feed our children and pay their school fees”. Ntakha further said the Christmas holidays were the most boring and emotionally taxing because both he and his wife are not working and so they couldn’t afford to get their family anything meaty for the holidays.  

He said this was a wake-up call to Basotho to have complete local supply chains of chicken to avoid shortage in the future.  On the other hand, Thabang Lekhema, who also stays in Ha Leqele, said his Christmas holidays were normal.  “The shortage of chicken did not affect me because I love red meat,” said Lekhema. “I don’t mind eating red meat every day without substituting it with any other meat”.

Lekhema further said: “It’s a pity for companies that specialise with chicken because their businesses were forced to shut down.”  But Thabo Lefaso from Ha Matala who sells sheep for a living said the chicken shortage saw him making unprecedented profits during the past Christmas holidays.

“To me the Christmas holidays were amazing because I sold more than 10 sheep to individuals, which has never happened before,” said Lefaso. Chicken supply shortage resulted in a temporary closure of fast food outlets such like KFC and Galitos, amongst others.