A research is expected to be carried out by the Fiji National University's College of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry into the sustainability of poultry production in rural communities.
The Department of Animal Science has written a proposal on the research topic and has put together a brief overview of the industry from available texts.
According to the overview, the commercial poultry industry is dominated by two broiler companies — Goodman Fielder (Crest) and Rooster Chicken — with 60 per cent and 40 percent of the market share respectively.
The egg market is controlled by Ram Sami and Sons which has 85 per cent of the market share.
The overview from the Department of Animal Science also reveals that Reddy's and Imam Ali Halal control the formal duck sector with 5 per cent and 20 per cent of the market respectively.
These producers have their own hatcheries with Crest operating its own large feed plant that also produces dairy feed sold direct to supermarkets and hotels.
The big companies operate out-grower schemes — small poultry units — to which the company provides chicks and feed and then buys back and markets the products. Crest has about 85 of these smallholder growers that produce about one third of their total output.
"Most of the poultry farming is in the Central Division, which has the majority of the egg producers and hatcheries and produces about 65 per cent of the broilers, while the Western Division produces 35 per cent," said an FNU statement.
"Figures show Fiji is 97 per cent self-sufficient in poultry meat and 100 per cent self-sufficient in eggs.
"The industry is protected by a 27 per cent duty on imported poultry and eggs. Imports of poultry meat amount to about $3 million to $4 million per year and comprises mainly chicken portions, often reportedly dumped by NZ due to their low price."