The Nicaraguan government seeks to expand egg exports through strategies that strengthen the agricultural sector and mobilize “the greatest amount of resources to the countryside,” Minister of Finance and Public Credit Iván Acosta said in a weekly meeting of the production, consumption and trade systems.
The minister of finance explained that the idea is not only to reach other markets in Central America, but also the Dominican Republic and Cuba (in the Caribbean). They also want to reach Taiwan, a market with which Nicaragua has an agreement, according to Acosta, as quoted by TN8.
“(The Nicaraguan egg industry) has a great opportunity when we think of Central America, with 40 million inhabitants, and if we include Central America, plus the Dominican Republic and Cuba, we would be talking about 60 million inhabitants, and we have an agreement with Taiwan. We would be opening what is market access to almost 100 million inhabitants to an industry that is in its maturity stage,” said Acosta.
Acosta explained: “All the eggs produced in this country are produced by small and medium-sized producers. There we have a great strength. There is a great opportunity. We would be opening the market to almost 100 million inhabitants. Strengthening productive capacity, providing financing, and technical assistance to reach the international market; they are all fundamental issues linked to production.”
Nicaragua would export chicken to the U.S. in 2024
In March, the governmental Institute of Agricultural Protection and Health (IPSA, in Spanish) and the National Association of Food and Poultry Producers (Anapa) signed an agreement to develop chicken production and reach the opening of the U.S. market in 2024.
With an initial financing of US$446,777, the agreement promotes the strengthening of the national laboratory and veterinary diagnosis in food microbiology, as well as technical accreditations for testing and microbiological diagnosis.
Poultry production increasing in 2020
From January to April 2020, Nicaragua reported an increase in the production of chicken and eggs, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (MAG).
The chicken production had an increase of 6.8% compared to the same period in 2019, with 22.6 million broilers slaughtered generating 111 million pounds of chicken meat.
Meanwhile, the egg production increased in 1% compared to the same period in 2019: there was a national production of 10.4 million egg boxes, as reported by the newspaper 19 digital.
Nicaragua closed 2019 with a production of 63.8 million broilers and with 2.2 million layers in production, according to the WATTAgNet Top Companies database.
