Louise van der Merwe is deeply honoured to have been awarded an Honorary Fellowship by the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics in recognition of her contribution to the cause of animal protection.
In announcing the award, Revd Professor Andrew Linzey said:
“This is the highest award that the Centre can bestow and is only given to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to the Centre and/or the cause of animal protection. I am delighted to report that, after careful consideration, it is the unanimous decision of the Selection Committee to invite you to become our thirteenth Honorary Fellow.”
For more information, visit the Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics
A humble indigenous chicken breed may help break the cycle
of hunger and poverty in Africa
There is a distinctive chicken pecking its way across Africa — and with it comes the promise of hope for rural communities where hunger remains a daily reality.
In South Africa alone, millions of children still go to bed hungry. Across the continent, poverty, food insecurity, climate pressures, and fragile rural economies continue to weigh heavily on vulnerable families. Yet one remarkable indigenous chicken breed is quietly helping communities build resilience from the ground up.
The Boschveld Chicken is a carefully developed hybrid of three hardy African breeds:
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the Venda, renowned for its egg-laying ability,
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the Ovambo, prized for resilience and toughness,
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and the Matabele, valued for its meat quality.
The breed was developed over 27 years by Limpopo farmer Mike Bosch, whose vision extended beyond industrialised poultry farming.
“My mission was two-fold,” says Mike. “Firstly, I wanted to make a meaningful dent in the hunger that haunts many communities across Africa. Secondly, I wanted to develop a chicken resilient enough to thrive in the harsh rural conditions found throughout the continent.”
That vision has now spread far beyond South Africa’s borders.
“Earlier this year,” says Mike, “farmers in Malawi and Zambia told me the Boschveld Chicken is the “Best Village Chicken” on the continent. Along with its other attributes, it brings exceptional hybrid vigour and hardiness with it. These birds are survivors.”
To date, he says, more than 12 million Boschveld Chickens have been exported to 20 African countries, helping establish small-scale rural farming initiatives aimed at improving food security and household income.
Mike says the next major development is in Pemba, Mozambique, where the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has bought 24 000 fourteen-week-old Boschveld chickens, together with an additional two million eggs per month intended for workers linked to the offshore gas fields near Pemba.
New transport links are opening other opportunities too. “The recently established direct air route between Johannesburg and Accra has suddenly placed Ghana within our reach,” he explains.
“Previously, the journey was simply too long for the welfare of the chickens because we had to fly via an indirect route. So we sent fertile eggs to West Africa instead. But with a direct route now available, we are preparing to send our first shipment of day old chicks”.
Mike reaffirms that the success of the breed lies precisely in the fact that they are not the fragile broilers (selectively bred for meatiness) or layers (selectively bred for egg production), as used in industrial poultry set-ups.
“Boschveld Chickens are not softies – and they are certainly not birds for cages,” he says.
“To survive and flourish in Africa, chickens need to be tough. These birds need environmental control only during their first 10 days. After that, they move into our lightweight mobile hoks which can easily be relocated onto fresh ground every day.
“The self-erectable mobile hok measures 18 square metres and weighs only 65 kilograms, allowing families to move it with relative ease. The chickens don’t ever have to peck around their own droppings.
“Our system has been designed not only to the benefit of animal welfare, but around practical rural sustainability. If desired, units can include supplementary feed, vegetable seeds, fertiliser, and solar panels capable of generating small additional income through cell phone charging.”
Mike says the hens begin laying at around 19 weeks and can continue producing approximately five eggs per week for up to 30 months.
“They are excellent dual purpose chickens – both for eggs and for meat,” he says. “And remarkably, I have yet to lose even one bird to avian influenza.”
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The lightweight Boschveld mobile hok measures 18 square metres and weighs only 65 kilograms.
In 2009, The Humane Education Trust presented Mike Bosch with a Certificate of Excellence recognising his contribution to more humane chicken farming practices, including systems where there are:
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no battery cages,
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no debeaking or beak “trimming,”
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no detoeing,
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no disposal of male chicks,
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no cruel culling outlets for “spent” hens,
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no confinement in accumulated faeces as commonly occurs in industrial broiler systems,
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no ammonia burns on feet,
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and no painful leg disorders associated with selectively bred overweight broiler chickens.
Instead, says Mike, the emphasis is simple:
“Allow chickens the freedom to be chickens.”
In a recent edition of Farm Talk with Tinus Havinga, the veteran agricultural broadcaster described Mike Bosch as “the King of Chicken Farming” and joked that he should feel free to “let out a crow.”
With an estimated 203 million small-scale rural farmers spread across Africa, the potential reach of sustainable village farming remains enormous.
And somewhere among them, the Boschveld Chicken continues to peck its way toward a different future.
Mobile cage-free unit, see here:
