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| Commercial brahman at Ovigenetics |
Touring around I’ve had the opportunity to see how varied agriculture is in this area of Jalisco. Dairying, broilers and egg production are HUGE industries here. Mexicans are the biggest consumers of eggs per capita in the world (the minimum salary is so low that eggs are the cheapest form of protein they can afford). They use the poultry manure from young chickens (which is very high in protein because young chickens are unable to process it properly) to feed to cattle, & manure from older poultry is used as fertiliser.
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| Feeding on chicken manure |
Livestock production in Mexico occupies 110 million ha and has more than a million permanent employees. The majority of the livestock operations are intensive. There is vast difference in production in terms of size, technology levels & organisation, with equally great variability in terms of the sharing of wealth generated. 3 companies provide 54% of chicken production; 10 companies provide 44% of egg production; and 7 companies or individual producers provide more than 35% of pork production. Annually Mexico produces: 2.8 million tonnes of chicken, 2.4 million tonnes of eggs; 1.78 million tonnes of beef; 1.18 million tonnes pork; 57 000t sheep, 44 000t goat; 21 000t turkey; 11 million litres milk; 51 000t honey. Livestock production contributes 44% of protein consumed (more than the world average). In the last 10 years, chicken production has risen 48%, egg production 34% and beef 25%, while lamb and pork haven’t changed much. Beef production is estimated to rise in 2011 due to increase in price and number of producers along with increased demand for meat. Livestock industries use more than 20 million tonnes of feed grain (mainly sorghum and corn) and more than 4 million tonnes of oilseeds per year.
