In my rounds at the 2018 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), I heard a lot about Venezuela and its poultry industry. Unfortunately, it was nothing good: How poultry production has been declining year after year, how companies have been giving way, how the industry works with almost nothing, how lack raw materials are lacking, etc.
Venezuela, once with companies that were in the Latin American top 10, has seen a reduction of 40 to 50 percent in its vast majority of companies. Notwithstanding, there are some companies that have grown. Rumor has it that it is because they have partners that are high (very high) members of the Bolivarian government. Those rumors cannot be confirmed, of course.
But what surprised me the most was hearing that the few breeder farms there are in Venezuela have to have armed guards, because people steal the breeder hens. And of course, they are stolen not to continue producing eggs, but to eat.
You know the situation is dire when people that don't know what a breeder hen is steal them to eat them. Of course, they do not know that they are eating a very expensive hen, that of the "golden eggs," with little meat, but a hen after all. But in times of war, any hole is a trench.
Once we finish the April Industria Avícola issue with the production numbers of countries and companies, we can see a clearer idea of the magnitude of the disaster and how much the consumption has gone down. What do you think?
