Self-sufficient, and growing
In March 2026 the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture told Parliament that Botswana had achieved self-sufficiency in chicken meat and table eggs. The value of the poultry subsector grew from about P1.7 billion in 2022 to about P3.5 billion in 2025, and the ministry expects it to reach P10 billion by 2030. Around ten thousand people are employed across the value chain. The poultry sector is described by the ministry as the best performing subsector under its remit.
Supply and demand
Figures quoted by different arms of government vary, so treat them as approximate. In July 2026 the agriculture minister put national demand at roughly 50,000 tonnes of poultry meat and 13 million dozen eggs a year, against production of about 46,000 tonnes and 14.7 million dozen. The trade ministry has quoted higher production of around 52 million kg of poultry meat and nearly 19.6 million dozen eggs, which works out at roughly 23 kg of chicken and 90 eggs per person per year.
Botswana still imports processed poultry products, put at about 17,800 tonnes worth around P96 million a year. The gap between “self-sufficient” and “still importing” is further-processed chicken, and government’s stated aim is to close it through local value addition.
How the industry is built
The chain runs from imported parent stock, to breeder farms, to hatcheries, to broiler and layer farms, to processing and cold storage, to retail and food service. Feed milling sits alongside it. Broiler hatcheries have an annual capacity of roughly 41 million day-old chicks; layer hatcheries around one million. Feed mills produce roughly 260,000 tonnes a year.
Most large businesses are citizen-owned, some as joint ventures with South African partners, and the largest are vertically integrated from chicks to retail. Alongside them are hundreds of small and medium broiler and layer farms, and the village system of indigenous Tswana chickens.
Institutions
- Ministry of Lands and Agriculture, through the Department of Animal Production and the Department of Veterinary Services.
- The Poultry Liaison Committee, established in 2014, chaired by the private sector with the ministry as secretariat, meeting monthly on supply chain issues.
- The Botswana Poultry Association, representing small and medium farmers.
- The Competition and Consumer Authority, which has studied competition in the sector.
Where it is going
Government policy is to move the industry from import substitution to export and value addition. Instruments announced in 2026 include CEDA’s revamped poultry financing suite (targeting 269 farmers, three new hatcheries and close to P1 billion of investment) and the Botswana Livestock Commercialisation Project with IFAD.