On 2 June 2026, Gabon’s Minister of Agriculture, Pacôme Kossi, laid out a 700 billion CFA franc programme before parliament. The goal: achieve poultry meat self-sufficiency by 1 January 2027, when the country will stop importing 65,000 tonnes of frozen chicken each year. According to FAO data, Gabon consumes roughly 65,000 tonnes of chicken annually. Economist Louis Ndong sums up the ambition: “Reach food sovereignty to lighten household expenses.”
BUILDING A LOCAL ECOSYSTEM
Hervais Omva, president of the Lusaka-based NGO IDRC Africa and a poultry sector expert, believes the project’s success hinges on developing the entire production chain. “The president set the direction. Now sector players must create the upstream and downstream ecosystem,” he says. For him, local cultivation of maize and soya is essential, as these two crops account for about 75% of poultry feed. “One major challenge will be producing millions of tonnes of these grains locally,” he notes. Job creation is another key issue. “Some automated slaughterhouses can process up to 60,000 chickens a day with just 20 workers. If the aim is also to reduce youth unemployment, we need a model suited to local realities,” he adds.
GABON TURNS TO AFRICAN INVESTORS
Libreville is looking to attract investors from across the continent to drive this transformation. After President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema issued a call at the mid-May Kigali summit, several African operators were received at the presidential palace on 9 June. The government says the technical framework is in place and an investment bank is already operational. A senior agriculture ministry official confirms that “mechanisms will be rolled out gradually.” In Port-Gentil, poultry farmer G.M., who has run a 10,000-bird operation for about a decade, sees the policy as a major opportunity. “The potential is there, but scaling up to industrial production requires huge investment,” he says.
A SECTOR TO REORGANISE
The Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine highlighted how exposed importing nations are to global markets. Gabon now wants to bolster domestic output to reduce that vulnerability. Official statistics show that 54.6% of Gabon’s population is under 26, and UNDP data puts youth unemployment between 30% and 38%. Developing the poultry sector therefore carries agricultural, economic and social weight. Hervais Omva has a message for young Africans: “The president paved the way. Investors are ready.”
