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Brazil Ready to Export Cattle and Beef to Indonesia
Jakarta - The Ministry of Agriculture is looking into alternative animal import from other countries after Australia stopped exporting feeder cattle to Indonesia.
The ministry has had meetings with New Zealand, Brazil, and Canada. The goal is to explore possible trading opportunities, particularly for beef and cattle.
Besides that, the government is assessing the animal disease status of each country, such as animal disease monitoring, exporting system, export partners, and willingness to establish trade with Indonesia.
”Of all three countries, Brazil has a great chance of exporting to Indonesia,” said Head of the Agriculture Quarantine Agency, Ministry of Agriculture, Banun Hapsari, on Wednesday (15/6).
Banun said Brazil is not completely free from foot and mouth disease (FMD), but that is based on country. From the zone-base perspective, several regions in Brazil are already FMD free.
There are even some regions FMD free without vaccination. In fact, Brazil has successfully exported cattle to several large countries, such as Singapore, China, India, Argentina, and Uruguay.
Brazil has implemented an “island quarantine” system, which isolates animals by island to ensure they are free from FMD.
New Zealand also has an opportunity to export cattle to Indonesia. Unfortunately the country has limited itself to exporting beef only since the last few years.
That decision is a policy made by the New Zealand government, but, Banun said, the country has stated it is ready to supply whatever amount of beef Indonesia requires.
Canada is a second alternative. Canada is ready to export live cattle to Indonesia and has even prepared special transportation subsidy for exporting cattle to its partner countries. (*Daniel Wesly Rudolf/OL-9)
Source : Media Indonesia