The national poultry industry is forced to import fertile eggs from countries like Portugal, Spain and Turkey, when it used to buy them from neighboring South Africa, which has since reduced its production because of the covid-19 pandemic..

According to national poultry producers, the immediate consequences of this change are the increased cost of the chicks and their delayed development, due to the difference in temperatures between the origin and Mozambique

"So we have registered a shortage of fertile eggs because the supply to the region has also reduced significantly. There were difficulties in obtaining the fertile eggs not only in Mozambique, but in other countries in the region," said Zeiss Lacerda, executive secretary of the Mozambican Poultry Industry Association (AMIA).

Continuing, Lacerda believes that due to this difficulty, the timing of the national production was affected and at some point there was a worsening of the price of chicks and, consequently, of chicken.

However, although there are some hatcheries in Mozambique, they do not produce enough to supply the market. "We have a reproduction center in Namaacha, in Maputo province, another in Chimoio, in Manica, and there is a projection to also erect one in Nampula province," said Lacerda.