Poultry Industry in Egypt: Rise in Prices of Chicken Meat

There are countless problems the poultry farming industry is facing in Egypt, a business that has an investment volume of approximately 60 billion pounds, with an employment volume of about 16 million people. The last problem was a rise in prices of one-day old broiler chicks.

 

Brokers who control prices in more than one way, including monopoly and speculation, pointed out that all these reasons led to the closure of many farms, where 40% of small breeders preferred to exit from the industry. Feed prices have risen from 5000 to 7000 pounds per ton, due to the importation of feed ingredients from abroad (maize, soybeans and some other additives). The prices of these ingredients were affected by the high price of the US dollar. The actual requirement of maize (up to 75% of poultry) in Egypt is between 8-9 million tons per year. Egypt imports about 8 million tons of maize worth up to $ 1.8 billion per year (local production does not exceed 1.4 million tons). and also imports about 1.5 million tons of soybeans per year. It should be noted that the cost of feeding birds represents about 70% of the cost of the production process.

 

Infectious disease outbreaks in the broiler breeders (the number of broiler breeders in Egypt is 8 million, plus 2 million imported breeders), which led to high mortality rates as well as the decrease in their immune capacity and the negative effects on the numbers and health of chicks produced, resulting in reduced supply of one day old chicks.

 

The prevalence of infection among chicken in breeding farms (Influenza H9 and some other respiratory diseases), where the mortality rate increased to 40%, exceeding the natural rate, ranging from 5-8%. It should be noted that the spread of diseases among poultry farms (about 70% of which are random farms) occurs as a result of the random spread, with the absence of veterinary supervision and follow-up by the concerned authorities as well as the absence of the role of agricultural extension to raise awareness of the correct methods of breeding and herding under all circumstances and atmosphere. It should also be noted that the total number of poultry farms in Egypt is over 80 thousand farms, of which only 20 thousand are licensed farms.

 

The increase in the prices of broiler chicks at a time of rareness led to the emergence of many poultry owners and the lack of their capacity to meet this insane price of chicks, and therefore decreased quantities of meatballs when marketing, which led to higher prices of chicken to retailers.

 

Factors that could help maintain the poultry meat price: 

- Emphasize the important role played by biosecurity in poultry farms. It ensures that the procedures are followed to prevent disease outbreaks and spread among the herds and to follow appropriate immunization programs (with emphasis on the safe transfer and storage of vaccines used). Also, all health measures to prevent the emergence of the disease from the choice of the site of production and the distance between farms through all stages of breeding and everyone who contributes to the human factor or equipment. And do not forget the safe disposal of dead birds by burning or burial, not as we see throwing on the highways. In this regard, the transfer of informal poultry farms to the desert back is imperative, which is stated by the Egyptian government to allocate 180 thousand feddans with all facilities.

 

- The use of appropriate vaccines for disease infection in farms through the work of local vaccines. Investment in the production of the vaccine locally has several benefits, the first is the provision of high hard currency as a result of the reduction of importation; the second is the production of a vaccine suitable for the type of infection actually found on our farms, as well as creating more jobs in this area.

 

- Activating the role of veterinary supervision and veterinary guidance (General Authority for Veterinary Services) and Agricultural Extension (Ministry of Agriculture) to increase awareness and guidance of small producers towards the correct ways to overcome diseases and provide an optimal environment for production.

 

- Overcome the high feed prices. The trend is towards horizontal expansion by increasing the agricultural area of feed main components, of which maize (current area for the cultivation of maize is half a million acres, and we need that this space up to at least of 2 million acres) and soybeans reduce the import process and the challenges of rising dollar prices through the establishment of a national strategy to grow these important crops and include them in the crops that are planned to be planted in the 1.5 million feddans project, as well as supporting and encouraging farmers to grow maize by providing high productivity corn seed and fertilizers at an acceptable price and buy the crop at a price satisfactory and encouraging (as has been done in the local wheat crop), which leads without doubt to the provision of huge amounts of foreign exchange. In another direction, the trend towards the use of non-traditional feed ingredients such as residues in the field of poultry feed, with the addition that it takes her important nutrients during the manufacturing feed as additives to provide full nutritional needs of birds.

 

- The transformation of the marketing of live poultry in poultry shops (which alone manages about 85% of poultry production, while the remaining 15% is slaughtered) to marketing chicken provided for the maintenance of public health, as well as avoid the spread of infection as a result of the process of transport and supply markets. Note that there is a law criminalizing the sale of live poultry issued by the Minister of Agriculture in 2009, but has not done it so far.

 

- Expand the role of agricultural research in the field of poultry and science associated with the production and work on linking scientific research to production results, through the use of applied results with economic returns to research universities and research centers, scientists as well as master's and doctoral theses in the fields of breeding and nutrition and poultry diseases, which are trapped in drawers offices and libraries.

 

The average per capita consumption of table eggs in Egypt is about 90 eggs per year while the consumption of the American counterpart 330 eggs, and the average consumption per capita of poultry meat in Egypt about 9 kg per year, with consumption of the American counterpart 60 kg. Recent scientific research has pointed to the importance of nutrition on animal protein because it is important in the mental l development of humans, especially in the early stages of life. We have faith in our necks to seek a healthier future for our children and to brighten up our precious country.