Johannesburg - Gauteng residents may be forced to pay more for basic food items like chicken due to the ongoing load-shedding crisis.
DA Gauteng spokesperson for Agriculture and Rural Development Bronwynn Engelbrecht says the poultry industry in Gauteng is facing severe challenges because of the continuous rolling blackouts.
“This has been made worse by the increased cost of living. During a recent discussion with the SA Poultry Association, it was discovered that during stage 5 load shedding, the slaughterhouse programme is interrupted.”
“The chickens are usually slaughtered at six weeks as they are the right size needed for fast food restaurants and retailers," Engelbrecht said.
She said that slaughtering takes place 24 hours a day, five days a week; however, rolling blackouts at stages 5 and 6 create a backlog in the slaughtering process.
“This means that the chickens are older, larger, and consume more feed. The price of chicken has risen, leading to fewer consumers purchasing the product. Furthermore, the market for larger chickens is limited,” added Engelbrecht.
This, according to Engelbrecht, leads to farmers having larger chickens roaming around, leading to an increase in feed requirements.
“To make matters worse, the provincial government seems unmoved by the disastrous effect the rolling blackouts have created amongst those responsible for food security in the province. The provincial government should provide incentives for rooftop solar installations and allow excess electricity to be fed back into the grid,” she said.
The Star