South Africa could lose 30% of its egg-producing capacity because of the current outbreak of avian flu, which has already led to the culling of about five million hens in attempts to curb the highly contagious H5 and H7 variants of the virus.
According to Dr Abongile Balarane, general manager of the egg board, the number of hens that have already been culled could increase to about eight million.
Commenting on shop shelves that have run out of eggs, Balarane said it could take as long as 18 months for the industry to recover from the current outbreak, necessitating serious mitigation strategies to lessen the impact on consumers.
Bad news for cross-border importers of South African eggs is that embargoes could be placed on exports in a bid to cushion domestic supply.
South African consumers may also have to consider buying liquid and powdered eggs as the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is considering importing such alternatives to protect the country’s food supply.
Government has apparently also started a process whereby hatchery eggs will be imported.
Balarane said earlier figures by the department that 2.5 million chickens had already been culled created a skewed impression of the outbreak as the figure only pertained to the availability of chicken meat.
Although an increase in meat supply of the poultry industry is also expected, the worst impact of the outbreak has been seen in egg production.
It is understood that every effort is being made to curb the spread of the avian (A) flu H7 variant that spread from the Western Cape to provinces directly east, and the A-H5 variant that spread from KwaZulu-Natal to provinces like Mpumalanga.
