Thanks Fai. I would say most groups are starting to build a track record for cage-free work as a result a decent amount of the conversations and work is focused on that. I would suspect cage broiler is on their radar.
In Ghana, it is pretty much on our radar and not a major concern (in terms of number of hens) at the moment. I can say with 90% confidence cage broiler should it exist is less than 1% of the country’s chicken production drawing from the fact that Ghana imports about 80-95% of chicken consumed and local broiler production is still majorly seasonal.
PS: Ghana1 opens to a story about cage broiler production in Zimbabwe not Ghana.
Thank you for your answer! I agree that it probably makes sense to focus on one thing first and build a track record there (before trying other things).
I am also quite confident that caged broilers are the very small minority of broiler productions in Africa. But I think this might (or might not) actually be a reason to believe that it is something impactful to work on—If we believe that it could become much more popular later and we can do something to prevent it or slow it when it is still small.
For instance, there were, as far as my research goes, virtually no broilers raised in cages in China in 2010. And then in roughly 2011-2014, some academic and commercial research (some government subsidized) on caged broiler systems came out and some seemingly experimental commercial caged broiler farms emerged. Industry news articles (like this) still described this new practice as emerging but the very small minority. But it seemed to have kicked started in 2015, and in 2023, the Chinese government formally endorsed caged broiler system as the preferred broiler raising system in China, and said in their report that in 2023, 70% of white feathered broilers in China were already raised in cages. I think retrospectively, maybe something could have been done to prevent or slow down this trend.
I changed the link to Ghana 1. Thank you for the reminder!
Thanks Fai. I would say most groups are starting to build a track record for cage-free work as a result a decent amount of the conversations and work is focused on that. I would suspect cage broiler is on their radar.
In Ghana, it is pretty much on our radar and not a major concern (in terms of number of hens) at the moment. I can say with 90% confidence cage broiler should it exist is less than 1% of the country’s chicken production drawing from the fact that Ghana imports about 80-95% of chicken consumed and local broiler production is still majorly seasonal.
PS: Ghana1 opens to a story about cage broiler production in Zimbabwe not Ghana.
Thank you for your answer! I agree that it probably makes sense to focus on one thing first and build a track record there (before trying other things).
I am also quite confident that caged broilers are the very small minority of broiler productions in Africa. But I think this might (or might not) actually be a reason to believe that it is something impactful to work on—If we believe that it could become much more popular later and we can do something to prevent it or slow it when it is still small.
For instance, there were, as far as my research goes, virtually no broilers raised in cages in China in 2010. And then in roughly 2011-2014, some academic and commercial research (some government subsidized) on caged broiler systems came out and some seemingly experimental commercial caged broiler farms emerged. Industry news articles (like this) still described this new practice as emerging but the very small minority. But it seemed to have kicked started in 2015, and in 2023, the Chinese government formally endorsed caged broiler system as the preferred broiler raising system in China, and said in their report that in 2023, 70% of white feathered broilers in China were already raised in cages. I think retrospectively, maybe something could have been done to prevent or slow down this trend.
I changed the link to Ghana 1. Thank you for the reminder!