The African poultry industry opened its 2025 Poultry Futures Forum in Lusaka, with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) making an urgent call for Southern African nations to abandon fragmented national strategies and adopt a unified regional approach. The shift is seen as critical to bolster the poultry value chain by expanding production, significantly lowering volatile feed costs, enhancing climate resilience, and attracting much-needed private investment through innovation and youth-led initiatives.
Convened under the Southern Africa Poultry Initiative (SAPI), the forum serves as a high-level convergence of government delegates from SADC Member States, major commercial poultry operators, grain and feed processors, financiers, researchers, and agri-preneurs. The event’s central objective is to accelerate practical collaboration to dismantle structural challenges that persistently constrain the sector’s potential growth, building on the 2024 forum’s commitment to a shared regional poultry roadmap.
AGRA Board Chair, H.E. Hailemariam Dessalegn, underscored the encouraging momentum seen since last year. “Several countries have developed national poultry action plans, and youth entrepreneurs are introducing new digital solutions to production and marketing,” he noted. Most significantly, Dessalegn highlighted the launch of the Poultry Feed Accelerator Grand Challenge, a direct industry response aimed at driving breakthrough ideas to lower costs and improve the quality and sustainability of feed, which producers across the region have identified as their single greatest constraint.
The government of Zambia is championing the cause, with Minister of Fisheries and Livestock, Hon. Peter Kapala, noting the country’s prioritisation of poultry development under its Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP) and the Comprehensive Agriculture Transformation Support Programme (CATSP), aligning with the broader Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP). Kapala proudly positioned Zambia as a regional leader, particularly in the export of day-old chicks and specialty birds like quails, reiterating the commitment to an enabling environment, safeguarding local producers, and promoting value addition through inclusive policies for smallholder farmers, women, and youth, and promoting climate-smart practices.
Technical lead for SAPI, Alexander Stewart, emphasised that high-level discussions will focus on aligning policy and regulatory frameworks to facilitate improved cross-border trade and market integration across SADC. This policy coordination is expected to help countries refine their national action plans to directly serve regional goals for food security and economic growth. Furthermore, the Forum’s agenda includes showcasing private sector opportunities to expand regional feed manufacturing and strengthen input supply chains, alongside testing climate-resilient production practices, improved genetics, and animal health solutions to build a sustainable and competitive poultry sector.
Driving the transformation agenda, the Forum places a strong emphasis on empowering youth and women, featuring a dedicated Youth Poultry Forum and an Innovation Pitch competition. AGRA intends to spotlight these emerging leaders, who are already developing commercial solutions for feed innovation, disease control, market access, and climate resilience. The Forum also includes structured Deal Rooms, a platform where AGRA facilitates partnerships between agribusinesses, investors, and development financiers to accelerate enterprise growth and financing across the entire poultry value chain, from feed production to cold chain logistics.
