Studies carried out by Embrapa Suínos e Aves (SC) show that from a nutritional point of view, rice can complement or replace corn in animal feed. The finding could be great news for Brazilian pig and poultry farmers facing high prices resulting from the growing appreciation of corn and soybeans. At the same time, the oversupply of rice on the national market, with a surplus of 600 to 800 thousand tons in the 2020/2021 harvest, strengthens the viability of the grain to make poultry feed cheaper, which represents currently about 70% of the 80%. the production cost of the two activities.

“The Embrapa has already shown that husked rice (brown rice), from a nutritional point of view, is perfectly suited to complement or replace corn in animal feed”, explains Embrapa researcher Suínos e Aves Jorge Vitor Ludke.

For three years now, corn and soybeans have influenced poultry performance, according to data from the Swine and Poultry Intelligence Center ( CIAS ) of Embrapa Suínos e Aves, which monthly monitors the evolution of production costs in two sectors. . To better understand how this influence occurs in practice, it suffices to observe the trajectory of the price of bags of corn and soybeans. According to the Center for Advanced Studies in Applied Economics (Cepea), the actual average price of a 60-kilogram sack of maize rose from R$50.11 in April 2019 to R$97.15 in April 2021, an increase of 93.9%. During the same period, the bag of soybeans increased by 68.1%. This means that production costs for pork and poultry have increased at almost the same rate over the past three years.

This upward movement in corn and soybean prices was driven by the uncertainties linked to the Covid-19 pandemic, the appreciation of the dollar against the real, the strong demand for cereals on the Asian market (mainly Chinese) and breaks in the first and second maize crops. due to climatic problems and the corn spittlebug, according to a study by the National Confederation of Agriculture and Livestock of Brazil (CNA) published in July 2021. The latest estimate from the National Supply Company (Conab) is that total maize production in the 2020/2021 harvest will reach 85 million, well below the 106 million tonnes originally forecast. Thus, it is expected that in the short term, there will be a deficit of 15 to 20 million tons of maize on the domestic market.

“Rice, on the other hand, is in the opposite situation. Rice farmers in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina, responsible for 91% of Brazilian production, achieved record productivity and delivered 8.5 million tonnes in the 2020/2021 harvest, the fourth largest in history . However, with the stabilization of consumption in the domestic market and the decline in sales abroad (especially to Africa) compared to 2020, there is still rice in the country. But now there is a surplus and animal feed is an alternative,” explains Rodrigo Ramos Rizzo, agricultural engineer and special adviser to the presidency of the Federation of Agriculture of Rio Grande do Sul (Farsul).

Source: The poultry site