The Economic analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on smallholder broiler producers in Vhembe District Municipality of Limpopo Province, South Africa

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic has been reported to have disrupted the supply chain of broiler chickens and food systems globally and negatively affecting the production of agricultural commodities. Poultry farming is a significant source of revenue generation for smallholder producers in developing countries. It plays a vital role in fulfilling the daily protein requirements of humans through meat consumption. This study was carried out to analyse the economic impact of Covid-19 on smallholder broiler producers in Vhembe District Municipality of Limpopo province in South Africa. This study adopted a quantitative research method. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents of the study. Data was collected from a sample of 180 smallholder broiler producers through a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics was used to analyse and describe socio-economic and demographic characteristics of the respondents. Stochastic frontier production function was employed to determine factors influencing productivity among smallholder broiler producers in Vhembe district municipality. Data analysis on the economic impact of Covid-19 on smallholder broiler producers was done by Microsoft excel. Furthermore, to assess the support services provided by the government to smallholder broiler producers, descriptive statistics was used. The results of the study showed that majority of smallholder broiler producers were females (52.2%). The dominating age group for this study accounted for 41.1% of the respondents and were between the ages of 36 and 45 years. The majority of the respondents in the study area were found to have 6 to 9 years of farming experience (49.4%). Smallholder broiler producers with secondary level of education constituted 43% of the respondents. The results on the factors influencing productivity revealed that labour and feed cost had a positive relationship with productivity both at 1% level of significance. Vaccines were found to have a negative relationship with productivity at 5% significance level. Farming experience and access to extension services was found to have a positive relationship with efficiency. Gender and age were found to be negatively associated with technical efficiency. The study also discovered that majority of smallholder broiler producers, accounting for 67.2%, were negatively affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Although there were funds provided by the government in a form of grants to help small businesses during the pandemic, the study found that only 39.4% of the respondents benefited from the funds. About 36.7% of the respondents received support through training and information provision. Smallholder broiler producers experienced a decrease in stocking density and decreased income. Based on the findings, the study recommends a partnership between relevant stakeholders such as SAPA to come up with low-cost ingredient feeds as a way to reduce cost of feeds, as this is generally the highest cost incurred in poultry production.