ZIMBABWE – Chicken Bird Holdings (CBH), a South African poultry and feed company and KFC franchise, has committed to invest US$150 million in Zimbabwe’s poultry and agricultural sector.
Chicken Birds’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr Marthinus, noted that the company will invest in chicken production and abattoirs as well as maize and soya bean production.
“CBH wishes to invest US$150 million in Zimbabwe. This spend will be in agriculture, in the poultry sector.
Over a four-year period, we will build a 50 000 broilers per week abattoir, a 500 000 day-old chicks per week hatchery, 30 breeding houses plus 80 broiler houses (of which 48 houses will be contracted out to farmers in the district) and two feed mills.
The growing of maize and soya beans will also form part of the contract grower scheme,” the company explained in a statement.
The company added that the investment is aimed at ensuring Zimbabwe becomes self-sufficient in the poultry sector and will also help to create about 1500 employment opportunities in the country.
CBH is a leading feed and poultry company in South Africa, running its operation under the brands Supreme Chicken and its animal feed under the name of Nutri Feeds.
The company has been very successful in penetrating the demanding quick service restaurant market, selling value added products to expanding chains like KFC, Hungry Lion and Captain Dorego.
CBH has in the past secured a US$25 million credit from International Finance Corporation (IFC) to finance its African expansion plans, increase production and set up new operations.
The company also acquired Opti Agro from NWK’s poultry and animal feed businesses at an estimated transaction worth US$21.05 million in September 2018.
NWK said that the sale of Opti Agri was part of its revised business strategy of focusing in its core business along the agricultural and food value chain.
CBH has expanded its poultry and feed manufacture business to other countries in Africa including Nigeria, Swaziland. Mozambique, Botswana and Zambia employing over 5300 people.
Its major subsidiaries and brands include, Valentine Chicken, Supreme Poultry, Nutri Feeds, KFC, Ross Breeders, Master Farmer Feeds Escoha Do Povo, Country Bird Logistics, Arbor Acres and Africa Chicks.
