In efforts to maximise profits, Zimbabwean chicken farmers regularly buy antiretroviral drugs (ARVs), intended for HIV patients in the country – on the black market – to mix into their chicken feed. They believe the drugs protect their stock from diseases and act as growth stimulants.
However, experts warn that the practice is unlawful and harmful to the health of unsuspecting human consumers of the meat.
In a report published in Daily Maverick, the Southern Africa Accountability Journalism Project (SA AJP) spoke to two people who do broiler chicken farming in Harare, both of whom admitted to the practice.
Zimbabwe has a high incidence of HIV, and experts say there are concerns that repeated exposure to ARV residues could interfere with HIV treatment or contribute to drug resistance, although direct evidence for this in humans is limited.
The use of ARVs in chicken feed has also been documented in other African countries, notably in studies conducted in Tanzania and Uganda.
Jane (not her real name), a broiler chicken farmer in an area of Harare, admitted to illegally buying ARVs from a health worker at a local hospital and mixing it into her chicken feed.
“The health official has a network of peddlers handling the business on his behalf,” she said. “My first interaction with him was when another farmer introduced us. I paid a deposit to show I was serious about making a purchase and he directed me to his seller at a local bus terminus in the CBD, where I was given my stash of ARVs.”
Jane said that initially, it was not the desire to stimulate unnatural growth in her chickens that led her to consider ARVs. She merely wanted to slash the rate at which her stock was dying from common poultry diseases.
“Mortality was eating my profits,” she said. “Newcastle disease would sweep through, and I was losing half my birds in some cycles. There was no money left for school fees.”
After hearing about her challenges at a poultry workshop in Harare, a fellow poultry farmer visited her, and for a fee – $100 paid in two instalments – offered to help.
She was offered TLD, a combination of antiretroviral drugs consisting of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine and dolutegravir. The once-daily fixed-dose tablet is recommended for adults and adolescents, according to Zvandiri, an HIV support programme. In Zimbabwe, this triple-therapy regimen is the preferred first-line treatment for HIV+ adults and adolescents.
She began mixing the crushed tablets into her chicken’s feed and water.
“The mortality rate plummeted, and my broiler chickens grew faster. I have since expanded my operation from 200 to 10 000 birds per cycle (over about two years). And, instead of waiting six weeks, I could sell them (for slaughter) at just four weeks,” she added.
Unauthorised ARV use in chickens farming is prohibited and harmful to human consumers.
According to Zimbabwe’s Medicines and Allied Substances Control Act, medicines intended for human use are regulated separately from veterinary medicines, and using human medicines in food-producing animals without appropriate authorisation is strictly banned.
Daniel Zulu, former head of the Toxicology and Clinical Department at the Government Analyst Laboratory in Zimbabwe who now runs his own pharmacy business, said that feeding ARVs to broiler chickens is harmful to human consumers who buy the meat. Repeated exposure to ARV drug residues, he added, could pose risks for people with HIV.
Although the extent of those risks has not been well studied, he strongly believes that HIV-positive patients, who consume poultry exposed to ARVs, could potentially see a reduction in the effectiveness of their antiretroviral treatment.
Zimbabwe currently has 1.3m people with HIV, with 1.2m of them on ARVs.
The loss of USAID funding has disrupted HIV service delivery in the country, affecting medicine distribution, patient management and clinic staffing. Although the government and other donors have sought to maintain access to ARV treatment, the diversion of the medication by corrupt officials into the black market could further affect the availability of the drug for those most critically in need.
Farmers believe ARVs stimulate growth
Commercial broiler chickens normally follow a five- to six-week growth cycle, reaching 2kg to 2.5kg by market age under standard management.
In a 2019 study, Ugandan farmers told researchers they fed the ARVs to their chickens because the drugs promoted rapid weight gain. Researchers confirmed the presence of ARV residues in feed and poultry. (Despite this widespread belief, no controlled study has demonstrated that ARVs themselves accelerate broiler growth.)
Farmers reported obtaining ARVs within their communities, either for cash or in‑kind payment. Laboratory screening confirmed ARV residues across chicken as well as in pig feed samples in that country.
And a Tanzanian study found residues of the antiretroviral drug lamivudine in broiler chicken muscle and blood, pig muscle and blood, and animal feed, providing evidence that human-designated ARVs were being used in animal production.
Still, little research has been done on the practice in Zimbabwe.
Jane’s accounts of feeding her chickens ARVs were confirmed by an agricultural business advisory officer from the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development in Harare.
He said he regularly interacted with farmers who used ARVs as medication and growth hormones for their stock. The practice appeared to be widespread, he said.
He frequently tried to educate poultry farmers on the dangers of using unprescribed human medication for their chickens, and described unusual characteristics in the meat of these birds.
“When slaughtered, they have a reddish, abnormal colour that is not found in free-range broiler chicken,” he said. “And when they’ve been cooked, the taste is bland and differs from the natural flavour of free-range broiler chickens.”
Other medicines used in cocktail
ARVs are just one ingredient in a cocktail of human medications mixed into chicken feed by local farmers, said Brian Fungai Chikodze, a registrar for the Council of Veterinary Surgeons of Zimbabwe.
The ARVs are most often mixed with other antimicrobial agents, used to prevent and treat infectious diseases. They include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitic drugs.
According to the WHO, the misuse and overuse of antimicrobials in humans and animals accelerates the development of antimicrobial resistance, one of the world’s leading public health threats.
In Zimbabwe, the broiler production value chain is a considerable user of antimicrobials, driven in part by production practices and demand for affordable poultry products.
“Whatever antimicrobial is used in the animals is going to be passed to the human consumers, and simple infections become harder to treat: people will be sicker for longer and in some cases, die from infections that were previously curable,” Chikodze added.
Jane, the poultry farmer, understands this risk.
“I don’t eat the ARV-fed birds,” she said. “I have my own coop behind my house where I raise free-range chickens for me and my children.”
Media queries submitted to the Ministry of Health and Child Care were acknowledged by spokesperson Donald Mujiri, but no response has been received.
The Department of Veterinary Services, which falls under the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, also did not respond to emails or follow-up calls.
This report was produced by the Southern Africa Accountability Journalism Project (SA | AJP), an initiative of the Henry Nxumalo Foundation with the financial assistance of the European Union.
Daily Maverick article – Zimbabwe farmers feed ARVs to chickens in bid to boost growth (Open access)
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