In 2022 Ecuador produced 495,000 tons of chicken meat, 15,000 tons more than in 2021, which represented an increase of 3.13%, according to figures revealed by the National Corporation of Poultry Farmers of Ecuador (Conave), which highlighted the increase of production despite adversities that the sector faced such as indigenous unemployment and the pandemic.
However, this growth is not enough to reach the pre-pandemic levels of 2019, when production reached 528,799 tons of chicken meat (6.83% more than in 2022) and only equaled the figures for the pandemic year (in the 2020, 495,732 tons were produced). In 2021 there were 480,357 tons.
Small egg producers held a sit-in in Quito to demand concrete solutions from the Government regarding avian flu outbreaks
A similar case happens with the production of eggs. According to Conave, in 2022 3,812 million eggs were produced, less than in 2019 when there were 3,944 million units. In 2020 there were 3,436 million, while in 2021 3,507 million eggs left the farms.
But, despite the slight growth of 2022, 2023 begins with a new challenge for the industry that since the end of last November has had outbreaks of avian flu, which to date have affected poultry farms in Cotopaxi, Bolívar and Tungurahua.
Conave, on December 12, 2022, in its last statement on the subject, assured that the country’s production capacity was guaranteed with the 1,800 farms that exist nationwide and that produce 495,000 tons of chicken meat, 21,000 tons of turkey meat and 3.8 billion table eggs.
Diana Espín, executive director of Conave, highlighted on that occasion that the productive chain of the sector represents $4.2 billion and more than 300,000 sources of employment.
However, until before the last two outbreaks of avian influenza detected and contained in the province of Tungurahua, as reported by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock on Monday, January 16, more than 867,000 birds had been infected by the virus; although Patricio Almeida, executive director of the Phytosanitary and Zoosanitary Regulation and Control Agency (Agrocalidad), calculated that the infected only represent 0.15% to 0.20% of the national total.
However, in Tungurahua, where the last two outbreaks of the virus were detected, sales of chicken meat fell 50% this week, according to merchants in the Ambato market.
Chicken sales drop in Ambato markets while poultry farmers reinforce measures to avoid impacts from bird flu
For her part, Marisol Molina, executive director of the Union of Egg Producers (Uniproh), assures that the poultry sector in the province is concerned about the two poultry plants in the Cevallos canton where bird flu was detected; and they ask that biosecurity measures be strengthened to prevent further outbreaks.
Small Uniproh poultry farmers requested the same last Wednesday afternoon, in Quito, during a sit-in on the outskirts of MAG.
Molina indicates that from December 2022 to date, 1 million birds have been slaughtered on seven farms operated by Agrocalidad, which represents for Uniproh, the Association of Balanced Feed Manufacturers and Poultry Farmers of Tungurahua (Asofabat) and the Association of Poultry Farmers of Cotaló (Asavico) 6% of its production. The three guilds in turn represent 90% of egg production nationwide.
“Approximately one million birds slaughtered, and there are almost $8 million in losses without considering the dismissal of people, the debts that remain pending because families no longer have a way to work,” laments Molina, who assures that the greatest concern is that after intervening the poultry there is no plan so that the poultry farmers can reactivate.
The leader adds that the situation in her sector drags down others in the chain such as suppliers of soybeans, corn, buckets, raw materials, medicines, among others. The sector calls for the creation of long-term financing. “That there is the possibility that these people who have been affected can be compensated in some way.” The director of Uniproh also indicates that poultry insurance is necessary to cover production, since she assures that avian influenza is a long-term disease and that it will remain perennial in the country.
For Molina, the actions of the authorities, such as the containment of the disease in the affected farms and the monitoring, would no longer be enough and he believes that it is necessary to move on to more specific activities such as an aggressive bird vaccination plan, for which he asks the Ministry to allow the importation of these from countries that have already had the disease for more than thirty years, such as Mexico and the United States.
How did you get to Ecuador? Molina assures that it was through migratory birds that in these cold months pass from North American countries to South America. “These birds have the disease, but they are asymptomatic, in our case these birds come down to drink water and feed, only the excrement of these birds can cause our birds that are on the farms to become infected.” He warns that the disease is very aggressive and kills infected birds within hours.
Avian flu outbreaks set off alarm bells in countries in the region that issued a joint statement
Meanwhile, regarding expectations for 2023, Molina projects a decrease. “The sector is going to decrease, production is being affected, people are afraid to return to housing laying hens, because there is precisely no safe situation that can be produced in the long term.”
From Conave, on the other hand, Juan Francisco Jaramillo, coordinator of the union, points out that “we still could not say with certainty. There are some production factors, such as the importation of genetic material, whose trend in the following weeks will indicate how production will behave”. (YO)
Source: Eluniverso
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