The U.S. Grains Council (USGC) hosted a group of leaders from the Poultry Association of Tanzania (PAT) last month to Morocco to attend Dawajine, the National Poultry Exhibition in Morocco, and to meet with their Moroccan counterparts as part of an ongoing program to help the Tanzanians develop both their association and their country’s poultry industry.
During the poultry exhibition, the group saw firsthand how the Tanzania Poultry Show can become a leading conference that presents the latest technologies, innovations and know-how of professionals within the poultry sector.
The group also met with FISA, the poultry association of Morocco that the Council helped guide during its beginning stages. FISA was the host for Dawajine for the 18th time since it started in the early 1990s. In addition, the association has successfully promoted tariff reductions for corn, sorghum and poultry equipment and now works to spread modern poultry production practices in the industry and increase consumer demand for poultry meat and eggs.
“The team members learned that associations start small and eventually grow big enough to help provide support for the poultry industry,� said USGC Consultant in Tanzania Bonaventura Ishengoma. “The biggest take away from this visit to Morocco was that the true success behind an umbrella organization comes from the associations that make it up.�
While the team was at the conference, they were able to see awards handed out for contributions to the Moroccan industry, including the Poultry Award of Merit from FISA, awarded to the Council for its contributions. Other awards that were handed out were also inspirational for the Tanzanian team.
“We saw awards being given to farmers, laborers and technicians who have done well this year,� Ishengoma said. “It showed our team that everyone is recognized in the industry for their work, regardless of their level, providing them with an incentive to keep up their hard work.�
The group also visited feed mills, broiler and layer farms, and hatcheries while in Morocco.
“The whole week was an eye-opening, learning experience for the team,� said USGC Consultant in Morocco Abdellah Ait Boulahsen, who traveled with the team. “We hope this activity provided them with the information they need to help them continue to move forward with their agenda.�
The Council is mid-way through a four-year Food for Progress project in Tanzania to promote the development and professionalization of the poultry industry there. The work there is following many pieces of a model of market development work undertaken in Morocco almost two decades ago and in several Asian countries before that.
Click here to view more photos of this team’s visit to Morocco.
Click here to read stories about USGC’s work in Tanzania that were published in previous editions of Global Update.