In May 2024, Hy-Line together with Hybrid Poultry Farms Ltd Zambia, held the first Hy-Line Brown Technical Seminar for Sub-Saharan Africa in Lusaka, Zambia. The successful event welcomed some 80 poultry owners, managers and allied industry VIPs from the region to discuss the latest developments with Hy-Line Brown genetics and relevant topics for the African industry, such as value creation through genetic improvements, maximizing saleable chicks through management, disease prevention, nutrition, and Hy-Line’s vision for the African egg industry. 

Hy-Line president Jonathan Cade and Hybrid managing director, Richard Keeley kicked off the event by updating the attendees on recent developments and communicating how the companies working together will provide top quality day-old chicks with improved genetic traits to meet African egg farmers’ needs.

In addition to Hy-Line speakers, the event benefited from the presentations offered by CEVA, EW Nutrition, HIPRA, EmTech, and Urban Farmer as co-hosts of the event. Africa’s egg industry is poised for significant growth over the next decades. The human population will surpass 2 billion people on the continent by 2040, and egg consumption rates will undoubtedly continue to climb as African people demand better protein sources for their daily diet. 

Africa currently has a very low per-capita egg consumption of less than one egg per person per week, while the world average is around 3-4 eggs per week per person. Just a modest growth in consumption of 2.6 eggs per capita per year would double per-capita consumption by 2040 and together with the population growth would require a near 3-fold increase in layer numbers, even taking into account the expected rate of genetic improvements. 

The next decades should see world egg production growth focused in Africa with continued growth in Southeast Asia, India, and Latin America.