Egg shortage hits Lesotho

MASERU – LESOTHO is battling a huge shortage of eggs following a surge in demand, thepost heard this week.

The Operations Manager of Ramela and Associates, Mokhesi Maraisane, said they are failing to keep up with the demand for eggs.

The company has been keeping an average of 40 000 broilers.

“This season we have 42 700 broilers,” he said.

He said they produce over 1 200 trays of eggs every day. But that is still not enough to meet demand, Maraisane said.

“The demand for eggs in the country has increased dramatically and farmers are struggling to produce enough,” he said.

Maraisane said the problem has been triggered by a lack of communication among local farmers.

He said last year in August, the demand for eggs was lower than the supply.

That resulted in huge losses for some farmers who had to throw away bad eggs.

Maraisane said about 40 percent of egg producers in Lesotho collapsed as a result of over-supply.

He said Ramela and Associates also lost more than 10 000 trays of eggs.

Nonetheless, he said they are planning to add another 36 000 broilers so that they can serve a larger market.

“We are working on having over 72 000 broilers for our market,” he said.

Maraisane said farmers need to collaborate so that they can have a clear schedule for the production of eggs.

“There should be some workshops to teach farmers on value chain production,” he said.

The founder of Agro Produce Poultry, Retšelisitsoe Khomari, said there was a deadlock on the eggs market last year.

“The supply of eggs was higher than the demand in the market,” he said.

“About 40 percent of farmers could not continue with production,” he said.

He said this reduced the production of eggs in the country.

He said the high cost of production is stopping farmers from recovering.

He said farmers are not able to increase their capacity so that they can meet the current demand for eggs.

The Lesotho National Farmers’ Union (LENAFU) Executive Director, Khotso Lepheana, said the high demand of eggs is triggered by a shortage of suppliers for broilers.

He said the broiler suppliers in the country buy their stock from South Africa.

When they get home, they keep them for some time while farmers are waiting for the broilers.

Lepheana said the broilers start production at the same time which increases the supply of eggs which sometimes then exceed the demand.

Lepheana said when farmers sell these broilers for meat, this also happens at the same time.

He said this in turn leads to a decline in egg production.

Lepheana said the government’s fight against the smuggling of eggs from South Africa has also cleared the market.

This has now created a high demand for eggs in the country.

“It is high time that Lesotho starts producing chicks,” he said.

Lesotho spent US$19.01 million (about M362.9 million) in 2021 importing dairy products, eggs, honey, and edible products, according to the United Nations COMTRADE database on international trade.

This is down from US$41.1 million (about M780.9 million) the previous year, a change of 53.66 percent.

Refiloe Mpobole