By Dr Ann Wachira
Consumption of chicken products is higher in urban areas due to increasing urbanization, higher incomes, and the convenience and accessibility of chicken products, particularly eggs. Despite the rise in production, processing and value addition remain low, leading to moderate profitability for farmers, with only about 10% of chicken and less than 6% of eggs being processed. Most dressed chicken (70%) are sold whole, while 30% are cut into parts. Key barriers to value addition include low consumer preference for frozen foods, inadequate cold chain infrastructure, disorganized marketing, and strict sanitary regulations. Moreover, selling live birds and eggs exposes producers to price volatility.
Kenya’s current processing and marketing of chicken products ranges from basic live bird markets and on-site slaughter to highly advanced, ISO-certified facilities that provide ready-to-eat products to international markets. Barriers to marketing chicken meat products include inadequate knowledge of the benefits of cold storage for consumers, which includes an extended shelf life and enhanced product quality. Enhancing value addition and cold storage can improve chicken product trade, storage, distribution, and consumption. Advances in freezing, packaging, and transportation technologies will enable chicken processors to trade in high-quality, premium cuts locally and regionally, especially during periods of domestic surplus.
Value addition begins by transforming whole chicken carcasses into various formats, including cut-ups, deboning, and portioning. These carcasses can be sold whole or divided into parts, such as wings, legs, and breasts, with options for deskinning. Some processing plants, such as butcheries, cut up carcasses by hand for retail outlets, while medium to high-volume processors have automated the handling to over 2,500 carcasses per hour.
The cut-up parts include breasts, back, legs, thighs, drumsticks, and wings. Deboning separates meat from bones, primarily breast and thigh meat, for retail. Deboned meat, especially breast fillets, ensures specific weight and dimensions for food safety, crucial for consistent cooking efficiency and internal temperatures in fast food outlets. Further processing involves adding ingredients or heat treatment to create various value-added products. The industry has developed hundreds of processed items, including marinated, chopped, breaded, and fried varieties, including the famous “mayai pasua”. Other value-added products include nuggets, wings, drumsticks, and thighs, available cooked, pre-cooked or ready-to-cook at various retail outlets.
Value-addition processors typically partner with farmers through contracts to supply live chicken, ensuring financial security by guaranteeing payments and protecting them from market price fluctuations. This reduces investment costs, as processors often supply inputs (chicks, feed, medication) and technical support, leaving farmers responsible mainly for housing and labour. In such an arrangement, the risk of losses is minimized since integrators offer disease management services and insurance and ensure a stable market for the chicken products.
Chicken value addition is profitable with large, consistent volumes of live birds or eggs, ensuring efficiency and meeting market demand. High volumes optimize equipment and labour usage, achieving economies of scale and enhancing by-product utilization, like converting feathers and bones into animal feed and fertilizers. This underscores the need for organized chicken production to add profitable value. Retail market prices for value-added products are higher,e.g. a kilogram of deboned chicken breast meat or fillet is Kes. 1,200, while a live broiler chicken is less than Kes. 450.
Value addition in the chicken industry creates jobs across various sectors, from farming to processing and marketing. It enhances food
safety, reduces losses, and ensures quality standards, which boosts consumer confidence
Value addition in the chicken industry creates jobs across various sectors, from farming to processing and marketing. It enhances food safety, reduces losses, and ensures quality standards, which boosts consumer confidence. This allows Kenyan chicken producers to access premium markets domestically and internationally. By extending the shelf life of chicken products, processing helps minimize post-harvest losses, enabling farmers to sell at better prices and fostering economic growth.
Final remark
The Kenyan chicken industry is one of the fastest-growing livestock sectors. Despite immense growth, value addition has not kept pace, depriving farmers of much-needed revenue amid rising input costs. Marketing chicken products faces numerous challenges, including an unstable market, increased input taxation, high transportation costs, a lack of cold chain facilities, and non-compliance with food safety regulations. However, there is much promise for the industry as urban growth and rising incomes increase the demand for value-added chicken products, which are preferred for convenience and health benefits. These products not only save time in the kitchen but also enhance the overall cooking experience!
As E-commerce reshapes the retail food industry, it offers exciting growth opportunities in the chicken industry. Upholding rigorous quality assurance standards in value addition is not just important but essential for future success.