Informante reports that the brands, CountryChoice Chicken and Realgood Chicken, became available in the market from 7 May. NamChicken, the fresh brand, will be available on the market by end of May. These brands are all Namibian-produced chicken brands.

“Consumers can look forward to purchasing our local brands, NamChicken, CountryChoice chicken and Realgood chicken from retail shops across Namibia by mid-June as our brands continue to enter the market,” explains Gys White, NPI’s general manager. Local consumers are used to purchasing imported frozen chicken. “With the NPI farm being local our chicken travels a shorter distance. Thus, NamChicken arrives at your table within a shorter period than the imported brands and we believe it is fresher than the rest,” enthused White. Both Realgood chicken and CountryChoice chicken are frozen chicken brands.

Mr White says the NPI abattoir has applied for Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) and ISO 22000 to comply with all European Union standards, as well as food manufacturer standards. The chickens are raised on soya and maize-based feed and no artificial growth stimulants are added.

The large-scale chicken farm is situated on the Klein Okapuka farm, about 30 km from Windhoek towards Okahandja. The operation consists of a breeding section of three rearing sites and six laying sites, a hatchery, seven broiler sites with five houses each and an abattoir, totalling more than 110 000m². It has the capacity to rear 250 000 chickens and produce 2000 tonnes of chicken per month.

Currently, 352 permanent jobs have been created at NPI. “As production increases we will employ more people and estimate that approximately 500 people will be employed at NPI,” says White. The whole operation will see 270 Namibians trained and employed to work on the highly sophisticated abattoir floor alone. An additional 100 jobs are set to be created through service providers for the farm.