IDEA   23902
INSTITUTO DE DIVERSIDAD Y ECOLOGIA ANIMAL
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Rhea industry and research in Argentina
Autor/es:
NAVARRO JL
Lugar:
Stellenbosch
Reunión:
Simposio; 49th SASAS Congress & 6th International Ratite Symposium; 2016
Institución organizadora:
South African Society for Animal Science, University of Stellenbosch, Western Cape Government
Resumen:
Although in Argentina there are two native species of ratites that historically have value of traditional and commercial use, the rhea industry as suchtook place in the mid 90´s in the final phase of worldwide expansion of this industry. Just like what had happened in many of the countries that hadpreviously entered this agro‐business, at first the activity grew exponentially, flourished to a peak, but then shrank significantly. In this work weanalyze the process experienced by this business in Argentina, both in technical and commercial aspects, as well as in relation to the investigationsthat led to the basic knowledge that was disseminated in the scientific community and transferred to producers and government agencies.Uruguay was a pioneer in South America in regard to the commercial breeding of the Greater Rhea, keeping for more than a decade the lead involume of productive activity, and coming to more than 120 farms, with nearly 10,000 animals in total ‐of which 1,200 were breeders‐. It exportedmeat at least twice: 1,000 kg in 2002 to Brazil and a reduced pilot shipping in 2006 to Argentina, where production was just emerging and could notmeet local demand. In Uruguay there were at least two authorized slaughtering plants. In one of them they came to process daily up to 160 ostriches,with the expectation of exporting them to Brazil. Unfortunately there are no records proving that this export materialized in practice. Despite thegreat development that the local rhea industry had in Uruguay, compared to its neighbor Argentina, exports were sporadic and very limited in volume.Neither did domestic demand cover the expectations that had been generated among producers. This reality triggered a progressive decrease in thenumber of farms as a result of the sale and merger of them (some very important), so the activity was gradually reduced, reaching almostdisappearance. Other countries in South America, such as Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Chile chose farming the African ostrich rather than developingthe commercial farming of rheas.In Argentina, where almost all the science‐based information generated and where most human resources trained in this subject were formed, thenumber of farms had a notable increase (due to the impulse of the activity that occurred at that time in Uruguay), reaching at the end of 2006 justover 50 farms of the two species of rhea, with about 2,000 adult breeders, all over the country. However, there was at that time a marked disparityin size among farms, with a large majority that had between 10 and 30 adult specimens, a few with about 50 and only a couple with more than 100.Subsequently, following the story of what occurred in Uruguay and elsewhere in the world, there were variations and rapid and significant falls,having finally come to less than one‐tenth of the number of establishments that existed when the peak of this activity occurred. Although until 1999there were exports of previously accumulated stocks of treated skins and feathers of wild populations of rhea, products or specimens from farmswere never exported. Currently, only three or four registered farms sell their rhea products, within Argentina.As regards to the systematic production of scientific and technical work about rheas, it can be said that, considering the internationally recognizedjournals, it began around 1992. Since then until 1996, only three publications were produced that referred directly to wild populations. In the elevensubsequent years (1997‐2008), even though studies in the wild were continued, there emerged concrete and important demands to the academy totransfer and give advice to individual producers, producer associations, and wildlife agencies that regulate and supervise the production activityinvolving protected native species. For this reason, the focus of research addressed with greater emphasis to those aspects with direct, indirect, orpotential application to the breeding of rheas under captivity. So in that period about 20 papers were generated on these topics (quality of products,productivity, incubation, chick management, growth, diseases, pharmacokinetic of antimicrobials), while there were only 9 on aspects studied inwildlife (diet, habitat use, abundance and distribution, human interference). However, the subsequent drop in commercial breeding activity since2009, reversed the previous trend, and research in nature populations increased again. Since then they have reached a total of 8, so outnumberingthe 5 performed on captivity in the same period. Besides, a couple of studies were developed on population genetics and, especially, there began toproduce results a new research line that had started years before on these species: the assessment of stress in situations of transportation andcaptive management, and under natural conditions. Since then there have been a total of 8 papers on stress in rheas in international journals. Inaddition to the publications in journals, as a result of local research, or in collaboration with colleagues from other countries, until today more than30 extended jobs and 110 contributions to national and international congresses, 9 Technical publications and 6 books or book chapters have beengenerated and numerous courses and seminars on South American species of ratites were issued. Of the four research groups that existed inArgentina, only one continues working regularly.In Argentina, this non‐traditional agricultural activity has little or absent official support (primarily grants, soft loans, or assistance in shaping thebusiness and marketing channels) because of its history and comparatively high production costs. There is a considerable skepticism in its profitabilityin the long term and there have been bad previous experiences in making associativism among producers to carry out this activity regionally. Besides,the traditional agricultural products have a high market value and demand, quality standards, productive systems with less uncertainty, and wellformed marketing channels. This agribusiness cannot compete and so it has fallen into a spiral of deterioration.Once all that said, the situation of Argentina does not seem at all conductive to a revival of this activity in the short term. It has evolved and maturedfinding its own balance: there are few rhea farms that are commercially active covering the low local demand for products and sub products of thesespecies.