Abstract

The study examined the relative efficiency of producing chicken meat in South Africa, in 2017, and its comparative advantage in chicken meat production in Southern African Development Community (SADC). The study used the Policy Analysis Matrix (PAM) to calculate the net financial and economic profitability, Nominal Protection Coefficient of output (NPCO), Nominal Protection Coefficient of input (NPCI), Effective Protection Co-efficient (EPC), Private Cost Ratio (PCR) and Domestic Resource Cost (DRC). Data used in this study was taken from the statistics collected by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and South African Poultry Association (SAPA). The findings, based on the indicators of NPCI, EPC and PCR conclude that the existing government policy environment tends to protect the interest of the chicken meat producers at the production level. The DRC results indicated that South Africa had comparative advantage of producing chicken meat in 2017.

Key words: Domestic resource cost, policy analysis matrix, private cost ratio.