The authorities have said they will allocate additional support for the production of these types of meat, which market experts reckon will show the highest level of return in the Russian meat industry in the foreseeable future.
According to estimates from the Ministry of Agriculture, non-traditional poultry meat production only amounts to 150,000 tonnes (t) at present, accounting for around 4% of Russia’s total meat and poultry market. However, if the authority’s planned development for the poultry industry pans out, this figure should rise to 450,000t or approximately 10% by 2020, by which time Russia aims to produce a total of 4.5 million tonnes of poultry meat.
“The development of non-traditional poultry farming, including small farms, is an important and promising direction to take,” said Vladimir Labinov, director of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Breeding, part of the Ministry of Agriculture. “It will be accompanied by the effective use of alternative feed resources and an increase in product diversity in the industry.”
However, the Ministry of Agriculture did not rank the breeding of ostriches, which already takes place in a number of regions, as non-traditional poultry farming. “In Russia this kind of bird is not included as a domesticated form of poultry; their breeding is currently being developed by a number of farms as a hobby, without the use of research-based technologies,” Labinov added.
In addition, experts said the breeding of non-traditional types of poultry is likely to attract a high level of investment in coming years. “Recent projects on turkey and duck meat production show a good level of return on investment and it can be anticipated that new ventures in the area of non-traditional poultry breeding will also have a good pay-off,” said agricultural expert Eugene Gerden. “In particular, latent demand for these types of poultry meat in Russia is much higher than the supply available, and producers can sell these meats at very comfortable prices.”