As demand for affordable, high-quality animal protein continues to rise across East Africa, strengthening poultry production has become essential for improving food security, creating employment, and supporting rural livelihoods. Achieving this, however, requires more than quality chicks or nutritious feed. It demands an integrated value chain that connects feed production, poultry genetics, veterinary services, farmer training, and reliable market access.
Silverlands Tanzania has positioned itself at the forefront of this transformation by developing a fully integrated poultry business that supports farmers from production to market. Through investments in feed manufacturing, hatchery operations, disease prevention, technical support, and skills development, the company is helping build a more productive and resilient poultry sector across Tanzania and the wider region.
Building a Stronger Poultry Industry
According to Managing Director Stewart Bradnick, Silverlands Tanzania was established to address two of the industry’s most critical requirements: access to high-quality poultry feed and healthy day-old chicks. These two inputs form the foundation of successful poultry production and are vital to expanding East Africa’s growing protein economy.
Today, the company produces approximately 21 million day-old chicks annually while manufacturing around 72,000 metric tonnes of poultry feed, supplying commercial and small-scale poultry farmers throughout Tanzania and neighbouring countries.
Since launching operations, Silverlands has introduced several innovations that have helped modernise Tanzania’s poultry industry. The company became the country’s first soya processor and was among the pioneers of pelleted poultry feed, technology that has since become widely adopted across the feed manufacturing sector.
An Integrated Approach to Poultry Production
Rather than operating in a single segment of the industry, Silverlands has developed a fully integrated production model that combines poultry breeding, hatchery management, feed manufacturing, vaccination programmes, disease diagnostics, technical advisory services, and farmer education.
This integrated approach enables farmers to access quality inputs and technical expertise from a single source, helping improve flock performance while reducing production risks and increasing profitability.
Disease management remains one of the biggest challenges facing poultry farmers across Tanzania. Poor biosecurity practices and limited access to veterinary services have historically contributed to chick mortality rates of between 20% and 30% in many production areas.
To address this challenge, Silverlands vaccinates chicks before they leave the hatchery, ensuring birds receive early protection against disease while reducing the burden on farmers who may have limited access to veterinary support.
Investing in Farmer Skills
Farmer education is another cornerstone of the company’s growth strategy. Through its dedicated poultry training centre, Silverlands offers comprehensive five-day residential training programmes covering flock management, poultry nutrition, housing design, biosecurity, disease prevention, and general farm management.
More than 5,500 rural poultry farmers have already completed the programme, equipping them with practical knowledge and management skills that improve productivity, reduce losses, and increase farm profitability.
Supporting these efforts is a fully equipped diagnostic laboratory that works closely with Tanzania’s Director of Veterinary Services to strengthen disease surveillance, improve diagnostic capabilities, and support national poultry health programmes.
Developing Local Expertise
Alongside investments in infrastructure, Silverlands has prioritised developing local technical capacity. Since establishing operations in 2014, the company has provided specialised training opportunities for Tanzanian employees through professional development programmes in Scotland, Indonesia, Thailand, Zambia, and South Africa.
These international training initiatives have helped build a highly skilled workforce capable of supporting the continued growth and modernisation of Tanzania’s poultry industry.
Strengthening the Feed Supply Chain
Feed remains the single largest production cost for poultry farmers, with maize accounting for approximately 41% of overall feed costs. To improve raw material availability, Silverlands has partnered with MazaoHub, connecting maize producers with reliable markets while securing a consistent grain supply for feed manufacturing.
The partnership provides participating farmers with guaranteed offtake arrangements, improving income stability while strengthening the resilience of Tanzania’s agricultural supply chain.
The company has also invested in 32,000 tonnes of maize storage capacity, helping reduce post-harvest losses that can reach up to 20% due to inadequate storage infrastructure. Improved storage not only protects grain quality but also supports year-round feed production.
Supporting the Future of Poultry in East Africa
Looking ahead, Silverlands Tanzania plans to expand the distribution of its dual-purpose SASSO chicken into more rural communities while strengthening collaboration with development partners such as the African Poultry Multiplication Initiative (APMI) under the World Poultry Foundation.
The company also intends to deepen public-private partnerships that support Tanzania’s ambition of becoming a regional leader in poultry production and poultry genetics.
As East Africa’s demand for affordable animal protein continues to grow, integrated poultry production systems will play an increasingly important role in improving food security, creating employment, and strengthening rural economies. Through coordinated investment in quality inputs, technical expertise, farmer education, disease management, and strategic partnerships, Silverlands Tanzania is helping build a more sustainable and competitive poultry industry that benefits farmers and consumers across the region.
