Rainbow interdict may hurt small-scale farms

The farmer's operation produces a range of kosher and halaal slaughtered chickens, Business Report says.

Tyrone Poole, a managing member of an abattoir and poultry farm in the Hopefield area of the Western Cape, opposed these claims. His farm, he says, has been assisted with resources and finances - aiming to expand the farming operation legally - by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. Department spokesman Wouter Kriel said the court verdict in the case could affect the department's ability to support small-scale poultry farmers in the future.

Stephen Heath, the corporate affairs director at Rainbow, told Business Report that Poole was alleged to be farming up to 4 000 chicks instead of the 250 stipulated in an earlier interdict. "This could endanger poultry in the area. We are willing to help [Tyrone Poole] with whatever he needs... What he is doing is illegal and we have confirmed it with the directorate of land management" Heath said.

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