RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – From emergency to warning. Three subsectors of the Santa Cruz production apparatus – poultry farmers, pig farmers and dairy farmers – are warning of a short-term disruption in the supply of chicken and pork, as well as eggs and milk, due to a shortage of corn in the local market. The yellow grain is fundamental and overarching in the animal nutrition of the aforementioned branches of production.
According to the president of the Association of Poultry Breeders of Santa Cruz (ADA), Omar Castro, the lack of corn and the high cost of this commodity in the traditional market – when it is available, it costs 95 Bs per quintal – put the national poultry industry in a precarious situation, the effects of which begin to show in the reduction of livestock in farms and, in extreme cases, in the cessation of operations and exit from the market.
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According to Castro, this phenomenon is occurring with force in Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca and Tarija. “The uncertain corn supply led to the decision to throw in the towel and get out of poultry farming,” he said.
The top leader of Santa Cruz’s poultry sector called on the Food Production Support Company (Emapa) to be transparent about information on stockpiling corn in its silos. “They have committed to lift the cap on the allocation of 30 tons of corn per producer as soon as the harvest begins in the country,” he said.
It turns out that the harvest is supposed to be 50% complete and there is no corn in Emapa or in the market. We can conclude that the state-owned company has neither stocks nor grain available,” Castro said, calling for the immediate import of corn to make up the deficit.
In the short term, in three to four weeks, the ADA expects a decrease in the supply of broiler chickens and eggs on the national market, which will affect the increase in prices of these staples. The sector complains of discrimination in the sale of corn to Japanese producers and Mennonite settlers who produce eggs and chickens.