Kenchic invests Sh1.5b in poultry breeding

By STANDARD REPORTER

KENYA: An integrated poultry company Ltd has invested Sh1.5 billion over the last three years in breeding and hatchery development.   

The company recently invested Sh800 million in the expansion and installation of new state of the art equipment at the Athi River plant. 

Kenchic Operations Manager Jim Tozer said the plant is the most advanced incubation system and has the capability to hatch one million chicks weekly. 

“At the moment we are producing 600,000 chicks per week,” said Jim Tozer. “Our new hatchery equipment is from Jamesway Incubator Company of Canada.

This is one of the advanced incubator manufacturer organisations in the world and Kenchic becomes the first poultry company in Africa to own a Platinum model machine.” 

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He explained that the Athi River hatchery facility is a biological factory where an egg goes through specialist incubation.

Tozer observed that the hatching equipment produce chicks of extreme potential and the highest quality done in an environmentally controlled building at the hatchery.

“The Kenchic Athi River plant is divided into broiler and layer areas.  75 per cent of chicks hatched at this plant are broilers and the rest are layers.  With the new investment, the Company has increased employment for Kenyans at this facility.” 

“In preparation for the installation of the new machine, all our staff at the Kenchic Athi River plant underwent training conducted by specialists from Jamesway,” he observed. “To keep up with the latest trends, we hold four training sessions in a year which are carried out by overseas experts.”

He said that the firm’s hatchery has been audited by the Jamesway Incubator Company for best practices in poultry.