- Title: SOMALIA: Somali businessmen look to poultry production to meet local demand
- Date: 21st July 2013
- Summary: MOGADISHU, SOMALIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF EXTERIOR OF AL NAIM POULTRY FARM VARIOUS OF WORKERS FEEDING CHICKENS (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) AL NAIM EMPLOYEE, SALAD ADEN, SAYING: "I have been working here for two and a half months. We take care of more than 8000 chickens here in this small poultry farm and we feed them four times a day." VARIOUS OF VETERINARIAN ABDULLAH MUDEY EXAMINING A CHICKEN (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) VETERINARIAN, ABDULLAH MUDEY, SAYING: "I have not seen any kind of diseases so far but we have experienced a shortage of drugs in Mogadishu because there really has not been many of these kinds of farms or businesses in Somalia for the last 22 years." VARIOUS OF WORKERS GRINDING CHICKEN FEED IN A MACHINE VARIOUS OF A WORKERS REMOVING FEATHERS AND WASHING CHICKEN IN A MANUAL DEFEATHERING MACHINE VARIOUS OF MEN PACKING CHICKEN FOR SALE VARIOUS OF AL NAIM POULTRY FARM MANAGER, DIRIYE MOHAMED, IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) AL-NAIM POULTRY FARM MANAGER, DIRIYE MOHAMED,SAYING: "We started this poultry business in April last year when we realised there was a high demand for chicken in Mogadishu restaurants. There aren't that many poultry farms in Mogadishu so we have a good client base for our products." VARIOUS OF CHEF PREPARING AND SERVING GRILLED CHICKEN (SOUNDBITE) (Somali) RESTAURANT OWNER, ABDI HASHI, SAYING: "Somalis from Diaspora and even locals regularly eat chicken meat at restaurants nowadays because it is cheaper than goat and camel meat. So the demand for chicken has increased." VARIOUS OF EGGS ON SALE AT MARKET
- Embargoed: 5th August 2013 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Somalia
- Country: Somalia
- Topics: Business,General
- Reuters ID: LVA56M45K9C2EP3H7EJH9OCRLX5Q
- Story Text: At a poultry farm in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, workers are busy tending to the hundreds of hungry chickens.
The Al Naim Poultry Company was set up last year by Somali businessmen who decided to return to their homeland after years of living abroad.
The investors that started this company are part of a growing number of Somalis who had once fled the violence in their country and are now returning to rebuild it as security improves.
Al Naim was set up using 100,000 U.S dollars, funds raised by its owners.
Somalia has been plagued by civil war, anarchy and Islamist insurgencies for over 20 years.
Though still fragile, the leadership elected last September marks a dramatic advance since chaos swept away the state-run economy of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, leaving a vacuum in which only some innovative Somalis created private airlines, set up 3G mobile services and kept finances flowing.
Al Naim isn't the first poultry company in Mogadishu, but it is one of the very few.
Salad Aden is one of Al Naim's 15 employees.
"I have been working here for two and a half months. We take care of more than 8,000 chickens here in this small poultry farm and we feed them four times a day," said farm worker Aden.
Abdullah Mudey is the farm's veterinarian. He says the health of the animals has been good but worries that vital resources like drugs and vaccinations needed to maintain large scale farms like this one are scarce here.
"I have not seen any kind of diseases so far but we have experienced a shortage of drugs in Mogadishu because there really has not been many of these kinds of farms or businesses in Somalia for the last 22 years," he said.
Al Naim makes their own chicken feed - a mix of grains and soya beans.
But unlike large scale poultry farms Al Naim's processes are mostly manual because the factory has no electricity.
Workers wash and remove feathers in a small chicken plucker and package the meat in plastic bags on the farm building's roof.
Al Naim sells 200 chickens a day, each at 5 US dollars.
With other businesses in Mogadishu growing, such as restaurants and the odd shopping mall, the demand for produce is increasing.
One of the farm's owners and manager Diriye Mohamed says they plan to expand and increase capacity.
"We started this poultry business last year when we realised there was a high demand for chicken in Mogadishu restaurants. There aren't that many poultry farms in Mogadishu so we have a good client base for our products," he said.
Somali delicacies often include goat and camel meat - staples influenced by Somalia's pastoralist communities. But chicken is cheaper and more widely available in the towns.
"Somalis from Diaspora and even locals regularly eat chicken meat at restaurants nowadays because it is cheaper than goat and camel meat. So the demand for chicken has increased," said Abdi Hashi, a restaurant owner.
Somalia's government has been urged to lure more investors to drive the private economy, hoping that more investors will look to put their eggs into one Somali basket. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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