Mission to Paraguay DBT, UKECP & UKTAG October 2024
5th October 2024 was the start of an Outward Mission to Paraguay for Rob Grinnall, representing UKECP (UK Export Certification Partnership) and UKTAG (UK Technology for Agriculture & Genetics) and supported by DBT (Department for Business & Trade).
Paraguay is a key player in the world food production: a country of 7 million in population that produces and exports food for nearly 100 million people in a wide variety of products such as corn, soya, beef (8th largest global beef exporter), fruits and vegetables. With extremely fertile soils and favourable climates, the country holds promise for sustainable growth and collaboration with UK’s Agri and Agri-tech sectors.
Meetings began in earnest on the Monday morning with breakfast at His Majesty’s Ambassador Ramin Navai’s residence where introductions to the other delegates were made: His Majesty’s Ambassador Ramin Navai; Charles Whitaker & Pedro Guarderas, Brown & Co; William Turner, LEIFF; Martin Forsen, Silvipar; Dr Rob Grinnall MRCVS, UKECP & UKTAG; Tamanna Sidika, First Secretary Agriculture and Mercosur (Agricultural Attaché) at British Embassy Brasilia; Federico Wodtke – LATAC Agri-Tech Lead, British Embassy, Buenos Aires; Gonzalo Grosso – Trade & Investment Office, British Embassy, Asunción; Karol Garcia, Climate Change, British Embassy, Asunción. HMA Navai explained how he felt that Paraguay was the perfect environment for doing business being politically stable, UK-friendly and with a young population. That evening a meeting with CEA y APPEC (Center of Agricultural Experimentation) allowed further sharing of information and experience in agriculture.
Tuesday brought a meeting with CREA (Regional Consortium for Agricultural Experimentation), a forward-thinking group of young farmers and families with a desire to share knowledge and experience on their farms.. The afternoon was hosted at the British Embassy where we were introduced to IPTA (National Agritech Institute). Again, this gave an insight into the needs and challenges of the farming sector in Paraguay in which they explained the need for innovation, and R&D in agriculture. There is a desire to support sheep production nationally as well as the beef sector and would look to the UK for assistance with meat goats also a sector they might be looking to develop. That evening, delegates attended a bull auction in Asuncion with Las Talas, where Brafford, Brangus and Brahman bulls were auctioned in the cool of the evening.
Wednesday morning started with a meeting with Dr. Hugo González – Biogenetics, who was interested in what we could offer Paraguay in terms of ovine and bovine genetics. Dr González expressed interest on genomics, new genetics and equipment. He felt that the Angus and Hereford sectors needed new bloodlines and that there was an interest in milking sheep in some regions for cheese production. Next was the SENASCA headquarters for a meeting with a full team of officials to discuss the latest draft on the bovine semen EHC (Export Health Certificate). Discussions surrounded the concerns on bovine tuberculosis and the background to control within the UK with Rob Grinnall underlining the rigour of our system and controls in place. Paraguay, like all importing countries, wishes to ensure the biosecurity of their agricultural industry, and the UK offers quality, healthy stock for imports.
Meeting the Minister for the Environment shifted the emphasis to what the UK could offer the agri-sector in terms of climate protection and production, with a commitment to speed the agreement for exports and push for the increase in the sheep sector. Agri-tech and machinery would also play a huge part in the development of climate-friendly agricultural regeneration in Paraguay.
Meetings with CREA
Thursday and Friday were intended to be field trips to the nearby province of Caazapa and the regional headquarters of CREA. Sadly, the breaking of the long-term drought meant that torrential rains prevented most of the visits and so we were confined to talks in their purpose-built headquarters. Representatives were there from soya, livestock, trees, finance, veterinary sector and general agriculture. The green-agriculture platform was emphasised with Paraguay wanting to lead the way in LATAM on the green regenerative platform. CREA went through a great deal of detail on their farms in the region with figures underlining the improvement in productivity that could be achieved. these fars currently have confirmed pregnancy of about 65%, pregnancy to weaning around 20% loss and the percentage weaned on average is 63%.
Three further farm visits had been arranged for the Saturday. Bo Ranch – this hacienda-style ranch produced quality livestock for shows and expos. Primarily a cattle producer of Braffords and Brahmans, they used fixed timed AI with fresh semen to aim for batch calving in the cattle. There was also embryo transfer work done in the cattle where the 50% Brafford was found to be the best recipient. Issues are the extreme heat and diseases from ticks and habronemiasis. The show cattle were receiving a 40% supplement and were in absolutely great shape considering it was not show season. The Brafford was the top-rated female in Paraguay and 3rd in LATAM. The ranch had also ventured into Texels and Hampshires, with sheep housed for much of the time, but unusually the lambs are separated from the ewes for half a day once they reach 30 days of age. This seemed an unusual system, but the feeling was that the ewes were not milking enough and getting the lambs onto hard feed at the earliest time had its benefits. The ewes were a mix of Uruguayan genetics and imported UK Texel semen.
Las Magnolias - we moved on to the next ranch which was owned by the wife of the Minister for the Environment. She has a farm of cattle, sheep, Falabella miniature and Criollo horses. This lady was clearly motivated by her love for her livestock and was trying to make in-roads into Texel sheep breeding. She also had a single Hampshire ewe and lambs. Her wish to improve her stock and invest in this new venture was clear.
Embryo uptake on those imported from the UK had been poorer than hoped and growth rates on some were reduced. In addition, there had been a lack of pigmentation around the eyes and muzzles in some. The pure UK genetics were struggling with the heat endured, in this part of Paraguay, but the mix with the Uruguayan Texels seemed to make a difference. We discussed grazing during the night when it might be cooler, but there are very real worries of packs of wild dogs and thefts. It might be possible to zero graze with buildings cooled with mists and fans as electric is so cheap in a country where all the power is from huge hydro dams.
Finally, on to Oujeja Texel farm, where our host Ignazio kept his record-breaking Texel sheep. Ignacio has thought this through as with all pedigree breeders, he is putting in effort and time. His stock are watched 24/7 against theft. The paddocks are being cultivated for better quality grass, and the handling pens and supplementary feeding are planned.. We emphasised the need to keep the stock looking well and selling to the right people. It is important to keep the brand image high and not sell to places where the genetics cannot be successful. Again, most success so far is in UK x Uruguayan genetics. They seem to have a little more heat resistance and they have smaller heads wanted for easier management.
Some take-home messages:
1. Don’t try to replace native stock, rather improve
2. Listen to local management issues, whether they be heat, extremes, poor forage, thefts
3. Collaborate with preparation of breeding stock whether before or after insemination
4. Use of supplement and feeds could be significant
The messages for the UK and the agri-sector are much the same:
Sustainability of the livestock in a climate that is changing
Productivity improvements feeds more population and increases profitability per livestock unit
Management of the environment is crucial in agriculture across the world and we can play a part in assisting in this
Collaboration in farming through agri-tech is a great way to promote UK plc and to show the way in which we lead in the sector
Rob Grinnall E: rob.grinnall@ukecp.com
Rob Grinnall