The VIII^th International Poultry Forum took place during the last week of August in Kazakhstan’s capital city of Nur-Sultan (former Astana). The meeting also celebrated the creation of the Eurasian Poultry Association, composed of five countries: Russia, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Belarus. The leaders of these countries’ poultry unions attended the Forum. Academician Vladimir Fisinin, the chairman of the Russian Poultry Union, was elected chairman of the Eurasian Poultry Association. The forum also celebrated the 55^th anniversary of the Kazakhstan Poultry Industry and was attended by over 280 participants from different countries.
Ruslan Sharipov, president of the Kazakhstan Poultry Union, and academician Vladimir Fisinin, the keynote speaker of the conference, welcomed conference participants. Mr. Fisinin spoke about the global poultry sector’s advances in recent years and plans for future developments of the national and regional industries. 22 presentations were given during the event.
USSEC consultants Dr. Jan van Eys and Dr. Maria Domoroshchenkova attended the conference with the goal of delivering a clear message on the importance of monitoring variability and raising the awareness of U.S. Soy’s quality attributes. The information delivered through the presentation “Soybean Meal Quality: Impact of Origin on Energy Evaluation for Poultry” presented at the Forum emphasized the differences in soybean meal quality as demonstrated by the work at the University in Madrid and the consequences of this quality difference in favor of U.S. Soy on the energy value of soy products for poultry. This presentation was in line with the interest of the attendees, all people working directly or indirectly in the poultry industry and many with direct links to the feed industry. The presentation was well received and led to a number of interesting question/discussions, notably regarding differences in quality among origins of soybean and soybean meal. Discussions that took place with representatives of the poultry and feed industry concentrated on technical aspects – as much on broiler or layer production/nutrition as on the importance of soybean meal in their rations.
Agriculture accounts for approximately 6 percent of Kazakhstan’s economic production. As a leading economy in the Central Asian countries (Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan), Kazakhstan has a better-developed poultry industry than most of the region and exports poultry products to neighboring countries. In 2018, the Kazakhstan poultry industry produced 192 thousand metric tons (TMT) of poultry meat and 5.6 billion eggs. Today, the poultry industry in Kazakhstan is experiencing a strong growth in production. The country aims to boost the domestic poultry meat production to 740 TMT and eggs to 7.5 billion per year by 2027. Over the past few years, the government has spending on average KZT 18 billion ($ 50 million USD) per year to encourage investment activity both in broiler meat and egg production in the country.
The visit offered a good opportunity to highlight the value and importance of U.S. Soy in poultry diets. It also offered a perfect opportunity to evaluate the level of development in this sector in this country. Additional marketing/support efforts in this region could be beneficial as they are likely to bring major returns (in terms of soy sales) in the near future.