April 15, 2009

Israel will reform its poultry industry in order to boost production, increase farmers' income and improve the environment.

Israel has decided to reform the sectors as the number of growers shrink continually over the years, and residents are complaining of odours from poultry farms. Small family poultry enclosures will be removed from residential areas at the western upper Galilee region and be replaced by 80 new and modern poultry farms with each having 15 enclosures on 120 hectares in new areas, some in forests.

The reform will cost ILS750 million (US$180 million) and the first stage is expected to be implemented over the next five years.

Broiler producers are also hurting from a sharp decrease in poultry product prices, which have caused a mass shutdown of many poultry enclosures due to a lack of profit.

The poultry council aims to stabilise the broiler sector in 2009 and 2010, said Avshalom Dolev, chairman of the Israeli poultry foundation.

The government also plans to replace the poultry enclosures with modern enclosures as it will help reduce density and occurrence of diseases, as every output reduction caused by a disease causes damages of US$30 million, said Shuki Bashan, Chairman of the poultry branch in the Israeli poultry grower's organisation. The egg sector also has to deal with egg smuggling from enclosures that have no veterinarian supervision.

The Minister of Agriculture Shalom Simchon said he intends to allow more growers to enter the broiler sector and to look for ways to make growers increase the interval time between hatches in order to improve sanitation level and reduce diseases.

Israel's poultry sector constantly deals with bird flu and Newcastle Disease. In order to monitor the sector, each poultry farm owner has to maintain veterinarian tests on a weekly basis and report the results to the Ministry of Agriculture's veterinarian services. The Ministry will then publish a list of poultry enclosures that are allowed to market their birds.

Moly Levit, general manager of the poultry council, said the only way to cope with bird diseases is to upgrade biosecurity measures, and the council has established a new northern laboratory and upgraded its southern laboratory to face bird health challenges.

Levit also said the poultry meat sector's main problem is an excess of production and the industry will have to increase demand to solve the issue.