ASSOCIATED VOLUNTEER experts

This allowed her to:

• learn how the traceability of all pigs transported daily in France (piglets, slaughter pigs, culled animals, and young breeding stock) was ensured by the organization BD Porc through all operators: cooperatives, private transport companies, slaughterhouses, and pig farmers…
• work with a driver from the Evel’up cooperative to see firsthand how these various records are sent directly to his smartphone: a system that could potentially be adapted for use in Africa, where smartphones are used much more frequently than paper documents.

Ms. Monique Gueu, PROPORC program coordinator

The most memorable exchange of those three days was the meeting with Mr. Jean Yves Guillerm, a breeder who had retired a few months earlier but who had served as an Axiom female breeder for 31 years! Although located in an area with a relatively high concentration of breeding and fattening operations, this breeder convinced Ms. Gueu of the importance of the strict discipline required on a daily basis to implement various biosecurity measures in order to remain free from the various epizootics that have ravaged Brittany over the past three decades.

Bernard Bernicot took advantage of the upcoming opening of a new slaughterhouse in Le Faou to show it to Ms. Monique Gueu as a model worth emulating.

 Biosecurity, “a critical component”

Given the urgent need to build new small-scale pig slaughterhouses that meet strict hygiene and food safety standards in Côte d’Ivoire, the ProPorc program coordinator was able to see firsthand the facilities perfectly suited for biosecurity, featuring two separate traffic lanes for livestock transporters and refrigerated trucks for carcass collection.

The Ivorian representative was also able to appreciate the significance of this new 3,000-square-meter facility with a capacity of 5,100 tons per year, featuring a basement, solar panels, and carcass cutting rooms

To see firsthand how the washing and disinfection of pig transport trucks are carried out, what better way than to physically visit a washing area approved by veterinary services during such an operation. Thus, Ms. Gueu was able to speak with the driver about the procedure.

Saturday, February 28: visit to the Kig Bro Leon meat processing plant in Bourg-Blanc, Finistère. 

This artisanal facility for processing pork, beef, and mutton greatly interested the ministry official, who aims to promote this cooperative model among Ivorian farmers to enhance the value of their production. The key feature of this initiative is the legal structure : a Cooperative for the Use of Agricultural Equipment (CUMA) adopted by the three specialized livestock farmers.

A marketing strategy to be promoted among Ivorian livestock farmers to help them better negotiate their selling prices, given that the market is controlled by numerous middlemen and the country is only 15% self-sufficient in meeting its needs.

To implement one of the most effective biosecurity measures, the livestock entry airlock, we visited Mr. Benjamin Tréguer in Milizac.

This visit allowed Ms. Gueu to better understand the daily entry procedures for the farmer, his employee, and outside visitors. She particularly appreciated the quality of the highly practical facilities and the professionalism with which the farmer implements biosecurity measures.