The companies in the sector revealed figures of the losses and asked the government to set up humanitarian corridors for the passage of food.
The poultry sector, like many others in the agricultural chain, has been strongly affected by blockades on different roads throughout the country in the framework of the national strike. Only in the southwest, where around 30% of the eggs and 20% of the chicken are produced, it is estimated that the industry has 100 million eggs and 10,000 tons of dammed chicken, which has led to a shortage of these products in several cities. from the country.
We recommend: The agriculture in the middle of the blockades
In addition, the shortage of food for animal husbandry has caused their death and, consequently, millions of dollars in losses. It is estimated that 49 million birds have stopped feeding in the region; in fact, it was necessary to slaughter three million newborn chicks due to the inability to access concentrates. And the public order situation hits them directly from another front: it is estimated that, as a result of looting, more than 60,000 birds have been lost in recent weeks.
Faced with the crisis, most of the companies in the chain have complained to the government for lack of support and little management to find solutions. They have also insisted on the need for humanitarian corridors to be enabled to pass food and to guarantee the right to protest, at the same time.
One of them is Incubadora de Santander, known for its Huevos Kikes brand, with a presence in the market for more than 50 years. The president of the firm, Juan Felipe Montoya, said he felt abandoned by the government, “we are part of the country’s productive apparatus, we generate employment, we bring well-being to our people and the area where we belong, but we have been 12 days where absolutely nothing happens and we already have five million birds fasting ”.
Montoya estimates that the impact on the number of units produced due to this situation will be three months, “without ruling out the possibility that the company will definitely leave and we will close the doors.”
The company spokesman, which employs 2,500 people, also warned that in Valle del Cauca there are 35% of “the fathers of the chickens; if they die we will not have layers and they will not have daughters, which means that we will not be able to have egg production ”. 80% of the tray where the eggs are packed is also produced in this department.
The statements were made known in the middle of a session of the House of Representatives in which Montoya asked the congressmen for their intervention to overcome the crisis in which the poultry sector finds itself, an industry that under normal conditions produces 1,600 tons of chicken and more than 16,000 million eggs a year to serve a market that prefers this protein, as it is the cheapest available.
Follow the news of El Espectador on Google NewsThose who live on highly perishable food crops, such as fruits or coffee, also live in a serious situation. According to a balance sheet from the Society of Farmers of Colombia (SAC), mobilization difficulties have been registered in 29 of the 32 departments of the country with direct effects in around 300 municipalities from where it has not been possible to dispatch food.
In fact, through social networks there have been known initiatives for the retail sale of crops, such as orange, in the Coffee Region, or pineapple, in Bucaramanga, due to the difficulty of moving products to the interior of the country. In response to this situation, the merchants’ union, Fenalco, made a call to maintain respect during the strike and not to resort to vandalism, since they calculate that they accumulate losses in excess of $ 1 billion, “a figure that grows as vandalism worsens, especially affecting commercial establishments ”.
