Why Africa Needs a Cage Free Model Farm and Producer’s Directory

Summary of key points:

• To streamline cage-free commitments in Africa as part of effective animal advocacy in the world.
• Create a producer’s directory for sourcing in Africa
• Train farmers in higher farm welfare practices
• Research centre to inform stakeholders on policy regarding farm animal welfare

Africa’s egg production is predominantly from caged farming, with only 40% of eggs being cage-free in 2020, according to FAOSTAT.  About 80% of commercial hens are kept in cages in Northern and South Africa, with the caged numbers also rising in other African countries. With a rising population and a growing middle class, Africa’s egg market is expected to grow annually by 11.26%, 3.5% more than the global egg market growth within 2023-2027. 

Africa has about 550 million layer hens, with a commercial supply of two-thirds of egg consumption. The region's exponential growth in the poultry industry is expected to continue due to the rising middle class and rapid urbanisation. Many global and multinational corporations are responding to this by rapidly expanding their operations to and within Africa. “Walmart to open more stores in Africa via Massmart..” and “KFC to expand in Africa but it lacks only one thing: Chickens” by the Financial Times in 2015 and 2016 respectively. “Famous brands continue expansion in Africa” by CNBC Africa, 2015. 

Cage-free commitments are relatively low in Africa compared to other regions. One of the most cited reasons by multinational and local companies is the lack of sustainable cage-free products in my outreach to global companies present in Africa. At present, the Open Wing Alliance has a cage-free producers directory for all the regions in the world except Africa. 

A model farm is of immense importance as it will provide practical training in best practices in cage-free management, serve as a reference farm for cage-free producers to visit, and serve farmers, auditors, veterinarians and other industry stakeholders across Africa. Consolidating and training egg producers in high-welfare production will alleviate the needless sufferings thousands of millions of chickens will face in Africa. 

 The model farm will thus serve as Africa's research and development centre, informing policy formulation and legislation. As part of its goals, the farm will develop and consolidate a cage-free producer’s directory in Africa, which is currently a bottleneck to cage-free commitments in the region with international and local companies to streamline cage-free policies to improve animal welfare. Corporate cage-free commitments will not be sustainable in Africa without a reliable egg producers directory.