Crest Chicken eyes local feed supply

October 22, 2009 03:14:11 PM

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Goodman Fielder subsidiary Crest Chicken says it welcomes any opportunity to buy protein based crops locally for its chicken feed.  

“The government as I understand it is working with the private enterprises to try and encourage more growing crops to be grown here- proteins as we call it -  so there are developments happening in that area, but some things can’t be done overnight.

“We need incentives to do that, which they’re working well with, so we’re just playing it by ear and working closely with the private enterprise to see what we can do to help us grow grains,” said Crest Chicken operations manager Ian Curtis, in an interview with Fiji Live. 

“We understand there are challenges in growing grains in the Pacific because of the high humidity and the availability of land. But I think the government is working on those issues and we’re quietly working with them. In the meantime, we’re ensuring that we supply the Fiji market with good quality chicken,” Curtis said. 

Crest Chicken manages one of Fiji’s most successful small business projects, where local farmers, on a small holder basis, grow and supply it with live chicken.

“That was developed 10 years ago with the Fiji Development Bank. They and NLTB set up land structures and land titles, we then went in with that model and we then set up the traditional model of 3,500 per shed, we then educated the farmers about small business management and then we have managed that for the last 10 years,” Curtis said.

So far, the company has around 70 farmers growing a third of its chicken which it then sells in the Fiji market.

“So some 3 million birds a year are grown at village level. Some are grown at village level and then there’s the company owned operations,” he said.

“The support we’ve given farmers has been ongoing - we help them in managing their business and working with the FDB to make sure that their loans are paid off in full.  Some 75 percent of the farmers have paid off all their commitments to the bank, so it has been very successful. It’s one of the most successful small holder projects in the Pacific region.” 

Crest supplies 85 percent of the Fiji chicken eating market. Chicken consumption in Fiji, according to Curtis, is around 18kg chicken per head per year, compared to other countries around the Asian region, where up to about 35-40 kg chicken per head per year is consumed.

“We have a long way to go, so this is about educating the consumers and keeping the local products produced and encouraging people to eat chicken,” he said.