Founded as part of an international aid project in 1963, the Kibaha Education Center, west of Dar es Salaam, was forced to close five years ago following a serious poultry epidemic. Formerly the site of Tanzania’s leading poultry operation, Kibaha was a major local employer, supplying chicks to local families, farmers and businesses and producing 1.5 million day-old chicks per year.
Its shut down caused a great deal of local hardship, but Organia’s plans will see Kibaha grow in phases over the next five years, to have a 16 per cent share of Tanzania’s poultry market with the production of 16 million chicks per year by 2021.
First phase investment has included a complete overhaul of the existing operation, with new breeder and broiler sites, a feed mill, processing and a new hatchery, designed by Pas Reform.
The hatchery is equipped with state of the art SmartPro™ setters and hatchers, with full HVAC control (climate control) to ensure that an optimal hatchery environment is maintained throughout the year. Demonstrating a relatively high level of automation by African standards, the hatchery has been designed with future expansion in mind. With a first phase setting capacity of 153,000 eggs per week, phase 2 will be 230,000 per week and there is the possibility of doubling that capacity in the future.
Organia, part of Taher Overseas, is a well-established poultry operation that focuses on bio-safety and ethical breeding in a region that struggles to meet international standards. The company’s mission is to invest in agriculture and food processing in Tanzania, both through company expansion and in partnerships with small-scale local out-growers, with whom Organia shares knowledge and provides technical support, while supplying day-old chicks and quality feed.
The launch phase has already created more than 100 local jobs - a number expected to increase to over 500 by 2021. In addition, the hatchery will help to re-ignite opportunities for small-scale poultry keeping in the region. A Mwarakani sub-village Executive Secretary in Kibaha Victoria Mlolele remembers the days when the centre was providing eggs and chicks for rearing. This investment is, she says, a blessing to the people of Kibaha - especially the women. "In African tradition, women are poultry keepers. This project will therefore revamp the economic wellbeing of many families”.
Organia’s chairman Amr Taher said his company has long-standing experience in the poultry industry and will work hard to ensure that the Kibaha project achieves its goal of regenerating the country’s poultry industry. “In a year’s time, Organia will be producing 10.5 million chickens a year and we will double this output annually until 2021.
“This growth will help pave the way for the expansion of our poultry business in East Africa.”