Mexico and Belize seek to expand health protocol for safe importation of certified cattle
The relationship with Belize is a priority, so the technical and scientific institutions of Agriculture will maintain permanent support with their Central American counterparts.
With the objective of expanding the safe introduction to Mexico of cattle for immediate slaughter and terminal fattening, originating from Belize, and thereby strengthening the supply of raw materials for the national industry, the ministries of Agriculture of both countries are working on a mechanism of sanitary control that guarantees the absence of pests and diseases of quarantine importance.
An import protocol is currently in force, through which Mexico receives around five thousand animals per year certified by the Central American health authority, coming only from Orange Walk County.
It is intended that with the update of the mechanism the import protocol considers a greater number of certified producers from Belize, who must demonstrate with clinical tests the absence of bovine tuberculosis (Tb), brucellosis (Br) and pass the health inspection that Mexican veterinary doctors would perform.
In a meeting with the Minister of Agriculture, Food Safety and Business of Belize, José Abelardo Mai, and the ambassador of the Central American country in Mexico, Oscar Lorenzo Arnold, the chief director of the National Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality Service, Javier Calderón Elizalde , considered that both nations share culture, friendship and health problems, since plagues do not distinguish borders.
He stressed that the work of Senasica, in addition to protecting agri-food production, is to expedite the commercial exchange of healthy and safe products for national supply, which is why this organization establishes bridges and not closure of borders.
At the meeting it was highlighted that the presence of the cattle screwworm in Panama and Costa Rica represents a risk for livestock farming in the region, which is why it is necessary for health authorities to join forces and resources to prevent the spread of the insect to the north of the continent.
Mexico has expressed to the International Regional Organization for Agricultural Health the need to take joint actions to stop this problem before it reaches Nicaragua, for which it presented a plan for the retreat of the pest.
Minister José Abelardo Mai indicated that Belize has just over 5,400 livestock producers, most of them small-scale, so the export of livestock represents the opportunity to generate greater development in their communities.
He highlighted that, with the purchase of Mexican stallions, the development of better varieties of grass and greater investment in infrastructure to facilitate the mobilization of animals, Belize has strengthened its livestock sector, in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner.
Regarding the cattle screwworm, he stated that he was part of the technical group that worked 30 years ago in both countries to eradicate the pest, so his country will begin an awareness campaign with the productive sector to create a fund to support local producers.
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