Poland stands out as the largest poultry producer in Europe, but faces great challenges.
The European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition – known by its acronym in English as ESPN─ – has become one of the most important and most attractive technical-scientific conferences in the field of poultry farming.
At the opening of the event, which brought together more than 1,800 people from 76 countries in Gdansk, Poland, spoke Prof. Andrezj Rutkowski, president of the Polish branch of the World’s Poultry Science Association (WPSA) . Rutkowski said poultry farming in his country has grown at an average rate of 3 percent a year in the last two decades.
Poultry production in Poland
Currently, 89 percent of poultry production in Poland is from broilers and only 5 percent is from eggs. The rest is from other species, in which the production of ducks and turkeys stands out.
Since 2014, Poland is the largest producer in Europe, with 16.8 percent of the total produced in the European Union (EU). Chicken produced 2.09 million tons, of which Polish poultry farmers exported 50 percent, that is, 1.05 million tons.
Poland is a large producer and exporter of chicken in the EU, among other things, because the average cost of the carcass is 65 percent of what it costs on average in Europe and much lower than in Germany, Sweden or France, among others countries
Poland also produces turkeys, a total of 493,000 tons in 2018, of which 189,000 tons were exported. It is also a large producer of ducks, with 52,000 tons, of which 19,000 tons were exported.
Egg production for consumption is 9,407 million units, with an average production per hen of 218 eggs per year. 50 percent of the production is exported.
The per capita chicken consumption in Poland is 28.4 kg per year. (Benjamín Ruiz)
Risks for Polish poultry farming
Poultry production in Poland is affected by four main risks, namely the availability of raw materials, public opinion, avian influenza and Brexit .
Polish public opinion has deep-seated prejudices, similar to those of the rest of the world, such as the concept of animal welfare or the use of animal proteins in balanced foods. Prof. Rutkowski alerted the audience to this fact.
As for raw materials, given the conditions of the current trade war, Europe as a major soy importer is in need of alternatives. A major barrier is the ban on the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs), such as soybeans, in their balanced feed.
On the other hand, the fact that there is wild geese represents a latent risk of spread of the avian influenza virus, of which Polish poultry farmers are attentive.
Finally, the Brexit can be very harmful to the country because the United Kingdom receives many of its exports. “When only 5 percent of excess is produced and exported, stopping it produces a crisis. But if you export 50 percent, the impact can be very serious, “Rutkowski told the public.