Haiti Investments Drive Homegrown Chicken Production

A public campaign to get Haitians to raise more chickens has succeeded in nearly tripling domestic chicken production over the past five years. While imports continue to satisfy the bulk of the country’s growing appetite for chicken meat, which is relatively affordable in Haiti, the promotional campaign has given a boost to the homegrown industry. This year, Haitians are expected to consume 105,000 tonnes of chicken, a surge of 22 percent from 2017, according to recent USDA figures.

Domestic production amounted to about 6,000 tonnes of total demand in 2017. While small, that compares with just 2,400 tonnes in 2010. Public and private investments have funded construction of new production facilities, including updates to processing and distribution centers, and chick supply has increased. The country plans additional investments, particularly in larger, commercial operations.

Haiti also has diversified its sources of imported chicken meat, which are forecast to reach 100,000 tonnes in 2018. That represents a doubling of import volume over the past eight years. While most chicken meat imports come from the United States, that share has dropped to 77 percent from 92 percent in 2013. Haiti has instead sourced more of its chicken imports, at lower prices, from Brazil and the EU. With Gro Intelligence, subscribers can access data on a wide variety of markets and products.

Haitian consumers have a growing appetite for chicken, a relatively affordable meat (blue bars). Imports satisfy most of the demand (green line), but the country’s domestic chicken industry is also expanding quickly to keep up.