Animal Rights Experts Urge Poultry Farmers To Embrace Cage-Free systems

In a shift that promises to reshape the poultry industry, animal rights experts under their umbrella body, Uganda Vegan society are urging poultry farmers to transition to cage-free systems.

This call for change comes as a response to the growing concerns about animal welfare, environmental sustainability, and consumer demand for ethically produced products.

In a training meeting hosted by the Vegan society in Uganda, an animal rights expert from Kenya, Aurelia Odhiambo from Open Wings Alliance, an organization that calls for better welfare standards for hens encouraged poultry farmers to pactise the free range system which provides hens with the right to free movement.

Aurelia Odhiambo from Open Wing Alliance

The shift towards cage-free systems represents a significant departure from traditional practices, where chickens are often confined to small cages that restrict their movement and recognizing the need for a more humane and environmentally responsible approach

“Animals also have rights, imagine caging a hen all its life yet you expect it to lay eggs for you. They are psychologically tortured in cages on addition to physical trauma since cages are physically restrictive and deny hens their natural behavior.”

"It's not just about animal rights," says Adhiambo. "It's about providing these animals with the opportunity to live a life that aligns with their natural instincts. Cage-free systems promote better mental and physical health, resulting in a higher quality of life for the birds and better products for consumers."

The Team leader of Uganda Vegan Society says that, “we believe that hens have a right to live naturally like playing freely, flapping their wings, hatching and everything that comes with quality living. Let’s free the hens, let’s re-embrace the free-range system so that they can live their natural life.”

“We hope that society can also transition from consumption of animal based products to plant based specially for the wellbeing of these animals” Nabaasa noted.

She also notes that the western countries keep imposing battery cage system of poultry farming to Africans yet they themselves moved away from it long time.

“Africa has become a dumping ground for battery cages yet the west themselves moved away from it. Most of the farmers in the west have gone cage-free and hence donate the cages to Africa and convince us that we can have high production in a small space and realize a high return on investment.”

“Through continued engagement, we shall encourage restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, wholesalers to make cage-free commitments, to say, if you’re selling me eggs from a battery cage, I will not buy. And also to encourage producers to transform and we believe that by 2025-30, we will have some cage-free commitments.” She added

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Bukirwa Hannah, one of the trained poultry farmers noted that she will put into practice what the facilitators made mention of which include among others letting hens go on a free range system so as to improve on their physical ability and mental strength, so that they can get to lay quality eggs and in the end realise profits.

The poultry sector contributes significantly to people’s livelihoods in Uganda, 2.7 million households keep chicken, and the national production is valued at USD 90 million for poultry meat and USD 36 million for eggs (UBOS 2017; FAO, 2019b).