From the spotlight to the floodlight: Illuminating the commercial broiler chicken system

Queenan, Kevin; Cuevas, Soledad; Mabhaudhi, Tafadzwanashe; Slotow, Rob; Haesler, Barbara

Abstract

This series of five policy briefs draws on research conducted by South African and United Kingdom- based researchers within the SHEFS consortium. The series seeks to encourage policy makers working on the commercial broiler chicken system in South Africa to adopt a broad systems-based perspective in their work.
This first brief provides an introduction to commercial broiler industry policy in South Africa, while the subsequent briefs focus, in turn, on a series of key challenges facing the broiler system.

This policy brief provides a broad overview of the challenges associated with current broiler industry policies in South Africa. Current broiler policies in South Africa focus on the commercial system’s growth, with the aim of improving national food security and agricultural GDP. However, the unintended consequence of this narrow-focused “spotlight” view is the risk of exacerbating inequality, poverty, malnutrition (under- and overnutrition), household food and nutrition insecurity, food safety risk, and climate change.

Citation

Queenan, K., Cuevas, S., Mabhaudhi, T., Slotow, R., & Haesler, B. (2023). From the spotlight to the floodlight: Illuminating the commercial broiler chicken system. Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems Programme (SHEFS)

• Report Type: Policy Document
• Online Publication Date: Dec 10, 2024
• Publication Date: May 12, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jan 2, 2025
• Series Number: 1
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14354908