ARSO : The Proposed Standardisation of Battery Cages for Laying Hens
19 December 2025
Submission by The Humane Education Trust
Author: Louise van der Merwe
​Re: The Proposed Standardisation of Battery Cages for Laying Hens by the African Organisation for Standardization (ARSO)
The African Organisation for Standardisation (ARSO) has stated its intention to standardise battery cages for laying hens as the primary production method across Africa, asserting that this would maintain animal welfare while optimising production performance.
The Humane Education Trust submits that this intention should be rejected, on the following grounds:
Historical understanding:
Battery cages can be understood as a legacy of industrial agricultural systems developed during the colonial and post-colonial period that prioritised efficiency and control, over and above animal welfare. Battery cages have since been widely condemned internationally as inhumane, with many countries moving to ban or phase them out. Their continued use today is less a reflection of ethical acceptability than of structural inertia: the cages themselves are durable, with a lifespan of up to 30 years, and they offer significant labour efficiencies, requiring as little as one worker to manage 20 000 hens. These economic conveniences have slowed their replacement, despite growing global consensus against their use, and despite unemployment figures in South Africa reaching 31.90%.
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Perspectives from Leading African Poultry Stakeholders Committed to Food Security, Poverty Alleviation and Animal Welfare
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Cage-free poultry farmer Mike Bosch, founder of Boschveld Chickens based near Bela-Bela in Limpopo Province, South Africa, is well- established in Africa, having a significant presence in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda, Rwanda, Ghana, Gambia, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Tanzania, Lesotho and Pemba.
Boschveld chickens are robust, hardy and resilient hybrid dual-purpose (meat and eggs) chickens developed from the Venda, Ovambo and Matabele breeds. Of the 20 million Boschveld chickens that have been exported across Africa to date, there has been not a single recorded case of Avian Influenza over more than two decades. Because they eat ticks, a further advantage is a reduction in the need for dipping of cattle, from 26 times annually to only 8 times annually.
Further details of the Boschveld cage-free production system, see Bosch (Source: Animal Voice magazine, September 2023, p.13).
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Moferefere Makutlu, World Vision’s representative in Lesotho, is committed to achieving household-level food security and supports agricultural systems that are locally appropriate, affordable, and socially sustainable. For him, the Boschveld cage-free system enables households
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to generate roughly R4 300.00 a month through sales of eggs and chickens. See Moferefere (Source: Animal Voice magazine, September 2023, p.24)
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Sanele Ndlovu is a Zimbabwe poultry farmer and graduate of Gwanda State University. She is committed to a cage-free system. See Sanele (Source: Animal Voice magazine, September 2023, pp.11–12).
As founder of the NGO Nurture Imvelo Trust, Ms Ndlovu has:
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Secured commitments from 10 household food brands to source exclusively cage-free eggs
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Established five verified cage-free egg producers to supply these brands
The Five Freedoms for Animals and the Welfare of Laying Hens
ARSO asserts that “the laying hen cage system has become the most important facility as it guarantees the welfare of birds.” As stated above, this assertion is incorrect.
An animal that is deprived of the ability to perform natural behaviours experiences chronic frustration and exists under conditions of unrelenting psychological distress.
The Five Freedoms for Animals are an internationally recognised guiding principle for animal welfare and are endorsed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH). In the last decade, WOAH has developed a more evolved, holistic approach using the Five Domains Model which builds on the Five Freedoms by focusing additionally on an animal’s mental state and potential for positive experiences. This recognises that physical needs and mental states are deeply connected and that well-being offers greater productivity.
The Five Freedoms are:
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Freedom from hunger and thirst
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Freedom from discomfort
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Freedom from pain, injury, or disease
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Freedom to express normal behaviour
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Freedom from fear and distress
None of these freedoms can be adequately met in battery cage systems.
In battery cages, hens are confined for their entire lives to a space smaller than an A4 sheet of paper. They are unable to perform fundamental natural behaviours such as walking, running, scratching, pecking, dustbathing, wing-flapping, or sun-bathing. The wire flooring causes continuous physical discomfort, and hens are wholly dependent on human intervention for food and water, with no capacity for self-directed behaviour. The cramped conditions and barren environment results in anomalous behaviour such as feather-pecking.
The South African Constitution and the Moral Status of Animals
The South African Constitution underpins all education in the country and explicitly affirms the importance of humane treatment of animals
In a unanimous Constitutional Court judgment (2016), a full bench ruled that:
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Animals are sentient beings capable of suffering and experiencing pain
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Animals possess intrinsic value as individuals
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Guardianship of animal interests reflects constitutional values and the interests of society as a whole
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Animal protection safeguards both human moral development and societal values
Humane Education Trust’s Educational Outreach across Africa
As already mentioned, the principles inherent in the South African Constitution underpin and dovetail with South Africa’s National Curriculum Statements. Different kinds of farming and the care of farmed animals are highlighted in the national curriculum. To this end, The Humane Education Trust is a valued stakeholder.
The South African Department of Basic Education has officially approved and procures educational resources developed by The Humane Education Trust, all of which are grounded in the Five Freedoms for Animals framework. The Department of Education in Mpumalanga recently advised the following resources from The Humane Education Trust would be used as Learner-Teacher-Support-Material in 2026/27 (see Mpumalanga Dept of Education)
All Humane Education resources are available from our Nature-based Education platform and are provided freely as downloadable lesson plans. See www.naturebased.education
Analytics show these resources are well-received beyond our borders too, including in Namibia, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
Between January 2022 and December 2025, the platform has been utilised by:
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472 teachers
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440 schools
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62,919 learners
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(See Resources)
Child Rights and the Inclusion of Animal Welfare within the Child Rights Domain
For the first time in history, the United Nations has affirmed that, as part of the right to environmental health, children must be protected from all forms of violence, including violence inflicted on animals (see General Comment No. 26, Paragraph 35).
This position is based on conclusive academic and scientific evidence demonstrating that exposure to animal suffering blunts children’s innate empathy, causing psychological harm with potentially lifelong emotional and mental health consequences. To see how this deteriorating progression works, please
(see Lesson Plan for Senior Phase Learners)
Hens confined in battery cages show clearly that they suffer. When children witness such conditions imposed on an animal by their parents or trusted care- givers, they come to objectify animals, diminishing recognition of animal sentience and internalising cruelty as “normal”.
All nations are obligated to develop legislation that is in compliance with the Child Rights Treaty, which must be understood with the inclusion of the clarification set out in GC26 Paragraph 35.
Extract from ‘Africa and Her Animals’ (UNISA Press)
The following extract is taken from Africa and Her Animals, edited by Rainer Ebert and Anteneh Roba, published by the University of South Africa Press.
Dr Anteneh Roba, co-founder and president of the USA-based International Fund for Africa, physician, and advocate for plant-based nutrition, states:
“Fuelled by the erroneous belief that mass production of animals for food will solve hunger and poverty, African governments introduce factory farming as a practical way to improve socio economic conditions and address food insecurity…
There is extensive evidence that adopting factory farming in developing countries will exacerbate climate change and extreme weather events, while contributing to water shortages, desertification, deforestation, and habitat loss. Convincing governments not to follow the industrialised world’s path remains a critical challenge.”
The Humane Education Trust requests ARSO to lead the way towards
a kinder world for Africa’s children to inherit.
Banning battery cages across the continent is a vital step towards this goal.
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LOUISE VAN DER MERWE
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​Editor | Animal Voice
Managing Trustee | The Humane Education Trust
Director | Nature-Based Education Cape Town, South Africa
Mobile | 082 457 9177
Email | education@naturebased.online | avoice@yebo.co.za
Website | www.naturebased.education | www.animalvoice.org