Aviagen® celebrated the grand opening of its greenfield project, Aviagen East Africa Limited on 2 September in Arusha, Tanzania. Aviagen East Africa Ltd is a joint venture company between Aviagen, African Poultry Development Limited (APDL) and Country Bird Holdings Limited (CBH). Aviagen East Africa consists of new Grandparent (GP) farms and a Parent Stock (PS) hatchery.

The Aviagen executive team were joined by key customers, and Ministry and Government officials for the event. The event was opened by District Administration Secretary, Joseph Mabiti and the Chairman on the Board of Directors for Aviagen East Africa, Kester Lyaruu gave a welcome speech to all attendees. Other speakers included; Aviagen CEO, Jan Henriksen, District Commissioner, Hon. Tom Apson and our Guest of Honour, Minister of Livestock and Fisheries, Hon. Mashimba Mashauri Ndaki.

During the event, attendees were also given a tour of the facilities which was led by Tommy Taylor, Senior Operations Advisor, TMEA, who is supporting this project to ensure the operation will produce high quality broiler breeder chicks.

Aviagen currently supplies all major poultry producers in the East African region with PS from our UK and European supply bases. From December 2022, Aviagen East Africa will be fully operational and customers in the region will begin receiving Ross 308 PS from our new regional supply base.

“Aviagen’s vision is to provide communities with the most affordable, sustainable and high quality source of protein. The continent of Africa is continuously growing each year, and through our new regional production base, we are able to provide local employment opportunities for people who understand the local requirements and also speak the local language, but more importantly, we can continue to feed the world. I would like to thank everyone who has assisted in making this project a success, especially the local communities and the Government, who have supported us from the beginning, and to the people who are still working on the project. I look forward to witnessing the future development of the East African poultry industry,” commented Tom Exley, President, Turkey, Middle East & Africa (TMEA).

Stewart Bradnick, Director, Silverlands Tanzania Ltd, a Ross PS customer, commented, “We are delighted that Aviagen has built a grandparent operation in Tanzania. This will be the catalyst that kick starts the poultry sector in Tanzania, helping locals to understand that poultry is more than just a backyard operation, it is a mainline agricultural business with huge potential. The site of Aviagen East Africa is well positioned away from other poultry and the design of the facilities are very good and adopt high biosecurity standards. This is essential to build confidence in the industry and to be able to supply disease free chicks to poultry producers. It was a privilege to be invited to the prestigious grand opening ceremony and the event was very well organized. It was also a great opportunity to meet the new team on the ground and see some old friends in the industry from around the world. The Silverlands team wish Aviagen East Africa “karibu” and we look forward to a long and prosperous relationship together.”

“We are extremely excited to deliver the first PS chicks to the region from Aviagen East Africa. With this new investment, we are closer to our customers, which is crucial for us. We can provide a more frequent local service and can supply high quality Ross 308 PS day-old chicks to our customers from our leading edge facilities. Thank you very much to all who supported us during this journey and special thanks to our shareholders, who are committed to investing in Tanzania,” added Robert Roszkopf, Business Manager, Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).