17 Nov 2022

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi will today officially open Irvine Botswana’s new feed mill in Mmamashia.

The company is one of the biggest broiler chicken and feed producers in the country and aims to unlock business opportunities through the development of value chains.

Feed mill executive officer, Mr Collen Phama told the media this week that the company had been producing chickens since 1950, and that they started a hatchery in Francistown in 2002.

He said the Mmamashia plant was opened mainly for the state-of-art feed mill in 2021.

Mr Phama also said they were one of the leading regional poultry producers with a rich history and roots in Botswana.

They have been supplying locally produced poultry feed for years and the new feed would increase their capacity.

He noted that the Mmamashia feed mill had the capacity to produce 90 000 tonnes of feed annually.

He, however, said they were operating at half capacity because there had competitors.

He also said the amount of produce was determined by customer demand. He said the hatchery in Francistown had the capacity to produce 18 million chicks per annum.

Furthermore, Mr Pharma said the feed mill was one of their high impact projects and that it had empowered Batswana start-ups under the poultry industry through workshops on feeds and the rearing of chickens.

He added that over 2 000 small-scale growers had benefitted from their technical experts who gave them the support required to run successful chicken businesses.

“Our intention is to develop local businesses and contribute significantly to the agricultural  sector, and we want to share this space with Batswana,” he said.

He also noted that they sourced products such as maize, bran and sunflower from local farmers to make feed. Mr Parma said the company was Botswana Bureau of Standards certified for compliance to international quality control standards and consistency throughout the production process.

“We do this to ensure that our produce is safe. Multiple tests are conducted by experts to ensure food produced is safe for both large and small-scale poultry producers in Botswana,” he said.

He also said they offered practical training sessions for university students, and that they had over 200 employees in their Botswana operations, adding that they employed thousands in the broiler poultry industry.  ends