Analysis of the environmental proactivity strategies in use in the Zimbabwe poultry value chain

Abstract

In recent years, poultry production in Zimbabwe has been on the increase. This increase has been accompanied by structural changes within the sector, giving rise to environmental concerns. It is imperative for the poultry value chain in Zimbabwe to step up its environmental proactivity practices in order to manage environmental concerns that arise from its expanding operations. With this in mind, the main objective of this study was to find out the environmental proactivity strategies that the poultry value chain companies are currently using to manage their environmental impacts and to find out the variables that affect the selection of those strategies. In order to perform the study, a questionnaire was distributed to 54 companies in the poultry value chain throughout Zimbabwe. The companies were grouped into four categories which are the commercial farms, stock feed manufacturers, service providers and lastly the processing companies. The first part of the questionnaire comprised of questions that sought to find out the factors that contribute to the adoption of the proactivity strategy used by the company. The second part of the questionnaire comprised a matrix of environmental practices compiled from literature that would then be used to classify each company to an environmental proactivity strategy. Descriptive and statistical analyses were employed in order to analyse the data. Based on literature, environmental proactivity exists on a continuum, with the reactive strategy at the lower end, the prevention strategy in the middle and environmental leadership at the top of the continuum. The study found that 18% of the firms in the poultry industry are using the reactive strategy whilst 70.3% are using the prevention strategy. Only 11% of the companies have the environmental leadership strategy. There is no statistically significant difference in the level of proactivity exhibited across the business type categories. However, based on the descriptive statistics, processors show a higher level of environmental proactivity. One factor that statistically significantly contributes towards environmental proactivity is the amount of focus placed on the management of certain environmental aspects. The presence of other operational systems and the presence of a sufficient environmental budget also influence the adoption of a particular proactivity strategy. The most influential stakeholders in pushing for environmental action in the poultry industry are the regulatory stakeholders and shareholder. These can push for better environmental practices within the industry. Players in the industry must be educated that environmental management is a step towards sustainable development. Consumers should be educated on their environmental rights so that they can be influential stakeholders in lobbying for improved environmental management. Further research should be done to quantify and classify the true impact of the poultry value chain operations on the environmen