JEDDAH, 22 August 2006 — Strict adherence to the highest biosecurity standards to prevent and check bird diseases was highlighted during the visit of Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi Nakagawa to a major poultry farm in Jeddah yesterday.
High biosecurity standards help in preventing the spread of diseases such as bird flu in livestock and can be applied to thousands of operations, from large livestock plants to small backyard chicken farms.
The minister, who was accompanied by Japanese Ambassador Shigeru Nakamura, Consul General Toshimitsu Ishigure and Vice Minister for International Affairs Hidenori Murakami, was visibly impressed with the state-of-the-art technology in use at the Radwa poultry farm, located in Dahban, some 50km north of Jeddah.
Tarek A. Taher, president and CEO of Aal Taher Group, which owns the farm, received the minister and his entourage and conducted him on a tour of the farm. Nakagawa, who has held the position of minister in eight successive governments since 1983, is widely regarded as an experienced and highly influential politician with a pragmatic approach to trade.
“I was really impressed by the plant, especially the biosecurity measurement standards that are applied here,” Nakagawa told a press conference later. “I’m also very much impressed by the size of the plant and also the way hygiene, sanitation and quality control are all strictly adhered to in this plant,” the minister said.
“Going by the way this plant is run, I’m convinced that consumers in the Kingdom are extremely particular about quality like our consumers,” he said.
“What’s equally impressive is that you’re meeting consumer demands by producing and distributing high quality products. That’s what we do in the food sector in Japan,” the minister said.
Speaking about poultry farms in Japan, the minister said: “We produce high quality birds and strictly follow the highest biosecurity standards to prevent bird diseases.” Shoichi was minister for economy, trade and industry earlier. “My earlier assignments enabled me to concentrate on energy needs and quality development in industry.” Taher said the minister was advised to visit Radwa as a model poultry farm in the Kingdom. “We’ve been looking for export opportunities and Japan’s need for high quality products impresses us,” Taher said, adding that the plant was built in 1981 with capacity to produce 14 million birds per year. “A year ago, we completed the construction of a state-of-the-art processing plant with a view to expanding the plant capacity to reach 28 million birds per year.
“Right now, we’re satisfied with the size and capacity of the plant. In the next few years, we hope to double our capacity by building a new hatchery. We’re also building a new desalination plant to meet the farm’s water needs,” Taher said. Radwa Farms’ General Manager John M. Richards, Marketing Manager Faris A. Al-Shamali and Director of Sales Mohammed Amer Khan were among those present.
Taher said that the company’s policy starts and ends with providing the best to consumers epitomized in its slogan: “Our Environment... Our Responsibility.”
The farm now covers an area of 16 square kilometers and is one the largest in the Kingdom, accounting for about 10 percent of the country’s annual production. The quality of the Rawda poultry farm has already gained international recognition. In 2003, it received the International Golden Star Award for Quality-Geneva and this year, the “Arch of Europe” Platinum for Quality in Frankfurt. Poultry is a major source of protein in the Kingdom.
