With optimism towards the future, underpinned by encouraging per capita consumption figures for poultry and eggs, the XXI Poultry Farmers’ Congress organised by FENAVI, the National Federation of Poultry Farmers of Colombia, drew to a close. The event, held from 4 to 6 June 2024, stood out for its major announcements, trade exhibition and the information disclosed on the state of the poultry industry in Colombia.
Regarding expectations, FENAVI’s Executive President, Gonzalo Moreno, revealed that, as current trends indicate, Colombia is on course to become the world’s largest per capita egg consumer within six years. He noted that a Colombian currently consumes an average of 324 eggs per year, with consumption expected to reach 336 units by the end of 2024.
With regard to poultry meat, Moreno pointed out that over the past two decades consumption of this protein has tripled, rising from an average of 12 kilograms per person to the current 36 kilograms of chicken per year.
For his part, the Executive Director of Fedesarrollo, Luis Fernando Mejía, presented further encouraging figures, highlighting that during 2023 egg, pork and poultry consumption was equivalent to 1.6, 2.3 and 2.8 times the consumption of these products recorded in 1990, respectively.
“In the coming years, per capita poultry consumption in Colombia will surpass the average of OECD countries. The recent production dynamics have been positive and are driven by the growth in domestic consumption of poultry meat and eggs.
However, in contrast to the positive figures for the national poultry sector, other voices at the event raised a note of caution regarding the political and economic situation in the country, as current growth is falling short of expectations — a reality reflected in the performance of industry, construction and the agri-food sector.
Meanwhile, Daniel Saldarriaga from Amazon Colombia stated that “technology is not exclusive to large companies — everyone can use it. Artificial intelligence must be focused on helping to enhance human potential, not on replacing us.” Along the same lines, Eduardo Chaparro Ovalle, Director of Incident Response at Kaspersky, urged attendees to adopt technology according to their specific needs, reminding them that it is the sector’s business leaders who understand both the business itself and its broader and specific challenges, and therefore recommending that technology be implemented in an intelligent and considered manner.
Jorge Vergara, CTO of IBM Colombia, extended an invitation to Colombian poultry farmers to continue expanding their knowledge of technology, so as to be able to make decisions based on data and insight. “Technology must be predictive in order to react and shape the future.”