75 % of chickens and egg production farms are highly technified and their processes are automated. This has allowed the sector sustained growth over time, guaranteeing sufficient supply to the population and stable prices for the producer.
This was stated by the executives of the Dominican Association of Poulticulture (ADA), Pavel Concepción, President and Miguel Lajara by participating in the economic meeting.
They explained that the technification of Dominican poultry has completely transformed the way of producing. Three decades ago, A person could attend about 15,000 birds, taking care of feeding and caring for them manually. Today, that same person is able to handle until 100,000 chickens, Thanks to the fact that food, water supply and heating are carried out automatically.
The entire process is controlled by computers, and the function of the worker on the farms is to monitor that the instruments work properly, evidencing a deep change in parenting.
Concepción indicated that in the incubation area, modernization has also been felt. About 30 % of the country’s incubators have the latest unique cover technology, which allows greater use of egg nutrients. This translates into stronger and healthier chicks.
And at level in processing plants, the change has been equally radical. While 30 years ago the work was largely manually, today there are three fully automated plants where the robotic line is responsible for sacrifice, displays and extraction of viscera, intervening the personnel only when the chicken is already cold. The rest of the plants maintains a semi-automatized system, where manual work is still performed.
He stressed that science has also contributed to raising production efficiency, refining chicken nutrition with formulas that supply exactly what the animal needs.
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Concepción explained that the main challenge of Dominican poultry farming is the dependence of imported inputs such as corn and soy, raw materials that the country does not produce and that costs costs. This forces producers to work with high levels of efficiency to transform grains into low cost food.
The advance also includes genetic improvement, through crossings of races such as Hubbard, Ross and Cole in chickens, and highline, Hendricks and Lohmann in laying hens, with the aim of increasing productivity without resorting to genetic modifications. Currently, poultry production is concentrated in Cibao and the Santo Domingo province and areas such as Yamasá, La Victoria and Monte Plata, in addition to important contributions from San Cristóbal and other localities of the country.
