With the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the Academy, participants are poised to make significant contributions to the industry. (Image source: Wadi Group)

The four-day event was yet another resounding success, with industry professionals within the Wadi Group in attendance, alongside the Wadi Poultry management team and Aviagen specialists

Throughout the event, participants were immersed in a dynamic learning environment, where they delved into the latest advancements and best practices in poultry farming. The diverse array of topics covered by the international and local speakers spanned from innovative breeding techniques to sustainable feed management, providing attendees with a comprehensive understanding of the industry's current landscape and future prospects.

Attendees were also given hands-on examples and practical demonstrations, which will allow them to apply the theoretical knowledge into real-life scenarios. Every aspect of poultry production was explored, from hatchery management to disease control strategies. All of these key topics will assist participants in enhancing their management skills, and in becoming forward-thinking professionals.

The event allowed participants to exchange knowledge regarding the latest technologies and techniques in modern production methods, and exchange ideas and experiences. With the knowledge and skills acquired throughout the Academy, participants are poised to make significant contributions to the industry, driving innovation, sustainability, and excellence in poultry farming for years to come.

“The Wadi Academy gives us the opportunity to share poultry knowledge and experiences with our internal personnel. All participants benefited from the key topics that were discussed, which covered all aspects of breeder and broiler management," commented the CEO, Poultry Sector, Wadi Group, Puzant Dakessian. We are proud to be the exclusive distributor for the Ross 308 in the Egyptian market, and we are continuously seeing impressive results at both breeder and broiler level. I would like to thank all of the speakers and the Aviagen team, who provided extremely valuable presentations to our customers throughout the Academy, and contributed to making this event a success.” 

Murat Yakar, regional technical manager, TMENA added, “Wadi do a great job in ensuring their internal personnel are well educated and equipped with the knowledge and tools they require to become successful professionals within the field. The Wadi Academy is designed to train internal team members and allow them to collaborate and share their experiences with other, experienced team members. Aviagen has collaborated with Wadi for many years, which has contributed to the success of the Ross breed in the local market. We look forward to collaborating together for future events within the market.”

CityBlue Hotels invests in agtech startup Farm to Feed. (Image source: CityBlue Hotels)

Africa's fastest-growing local hotel chain, CityBlue Hotels has taken an equity position in the B2B platform Farm to Feed, which sources imperfect surplus produce directly from farmers, increasing their income and fighting food loss

With about 50% of crop production likely to be lost in sub-Saharan Africa, market access is seen as a huge problem for farmers with abundant, imperfect-looking produce. Farm to Feed’s tech-enabled platform paired on-the-ground aggregators and transportation using freezer trucks provides a solution to this climate issue, thereby setting a new standard for food sustainability in Kenya. Beyond sourcing imperfect produce, Farm to Feed is collecting data on drivers of food loss, to enhance farming practices and to create a more circular food system.

“I saw firsthand what farmers were not selling even when markets returned after COVID, and it is a huge devastation not only on food security, but on the economy too," said founder and CEO of Farm to Feed, Claire van Enk. "Food loss has a climate change aspect, with rotting food producing methane, a greenhouse gas that is worse than carbon dioxide.”  

During the Africa Hotel Investment Forum 2024 which took place in in Windhoek, Namibia, founder and CEO of CityBlue Hotels, Jameel Verjee stated that their ESG practices both as CityBlue Hotels and its parent, The Diar Group, would be enhanced by working alongside Farm to Feed. "We hope that other businesses will follow our lead and work with Claire and her team in Africa on the pertinent issues of food security, sustainability and climate.” 

The company expects to begin shipping in volume in the third quarter of 2024. (Image source: Adobe Stock)

Following rigorous development and testing, leader in molecular sensing and diagnostics, Alveo Technologies, Inc (Alveo) recently announced that the Flockscreen LAMP Avian Influenza Molecular Test was capable of accurately detecting the presence of virus in both cloacal and oropharyngeal samples from poultry with comparable limit of detection, sensitivity and specificity

The HPAI panzootic virus has spread to not only cattle, but at least 47 other mammalian species, resulting in the destruction of more than half a billion poultry worldwide. One among the many significant drawbacks that make current agricultural tests unsuitable for these HPAI use cases, includes the lengthy processing time required to obtain a result from polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Moreover, vaccinating birds can cause their serology tests to turn positive despite not being infected. In addition, lateral flow, also known as antigen or instant tests, lacks sensitivity and produces a significant percentage of false negative results.

However, Alveo's portable and rugged molecular diagnostic platform has been designed to provide accurate, rapid test results at the point of need. It functions as a core component of a notifiable disease electronic management ecosystem that the company and its strategic partners have developed to support producers, as well as governmental bodies who are looking to expand the surveillance of important zoonotic pathogens. 

Two multiplexed panels enable the on-site broad detection of Avian Influenza Type A virus (targeting matrix gene) in poultry with differentiation of H5, H7 and H9 subtypes using oropharyngeal or cloacal samples. Both panels contain seven assays, six of which are identical between cartridges. This configuration ensures the greatest coverage of the most clinically relevant global AI strains from the past 5-10 years, through to the current strains. The platform's rugged design enables it to function in the field under extreme conditions, including very hot and near freezing temperatures, following a drop of one metre, and when subjected to movement and vibration, which are common challenges encountered in field settings. 

During their evaluation of over 100 candidate primer sets and assay conditions, Alveo and their development partners performed more than 20,000 reactions on over 4000 assay cartridges using both contrived and clinical samples.

"Our platform makes it simple to test for HPAI in poultry and we will be the first diagnostic of its kind that can test both cloacal and oropharyngeal samples," said CEO of Alveo, Shaun Holt. "Our rugged design enables healthcare providers, veterinarians, growers, and public health officials to obtain rapid results at point of need so they can take immediate action."

The product will be validated and verified by relevant regulatory bodies prior to shipment. Shipping of the product, which is currently available for pre-sale in Europe and the Middle East, is set to begin in the third quarter of 2024.

Feed the Future Innovation Lab team members currently or formerly associated with Iowa State's Department of Animal Science. (Image source: Iowa State University)

As part of an international effort to improve the health of small poultry flocks of indigenous chickens, researchers from the Iowa State University have been working on a 10-year project by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Genomics to Improve Poultry, that is aimed at addressing the threats that disease and infections pose to the region’s poultry sector 

One of the most devastating poultry diseases includes the Newcastle Disease Virus (NDV). According to Susan Lamont, distinguished professor in the Department of Animal Science and one of the leads on the research team, this disease does not appear to be a major threat to the chickens of the region, mainly due to the availability of a vaccine. However, vaccination programmes are not practical to implement in much of Africa due to the likeliness of small numbers of chickens being scattered, thereby resulting in their intermingling with other chickens and fowl. 

As stated in a report by the Iowa State University, in order to ensure that the project has the best chance of bringing meaningful impacts to local smallholder farmers, several unique approaches were adopted. These included a series of initial focus groups to gain a sense of what was important to smallholders of poultry and what interventions they would be most likely to find usable. Moreover, to keep things more relatable to real life, the scientists studied birds exposed to disease in natural situations, rather than in more controlled experimental environments. 

A recent paper by the team which forms the Feed the Future Innovation Lab, was published in the World’s Poultry Science journal. The study carried out focuses primarily on genetic and molecular studies of the chickens and their response to NDV and extreme heat, from the cellular level to bodily systems. 

From their findings, the researchers found that a regional breed, indigenous to the Fayoum region of Egypt, are relatively more resistant to infection from many pathogens and to heat compared to a commercial Leghorn line derived from chickens in the US. They also identified several genes as important candidates for their influence on NDV viral replication. 

In addition, researchers were also able to learn a lot about the genetics of the Newcastle disease virus and the strains prevalent in the different poultry-producing regions studied. This information will surely be useful for the development of more effective methods to fight the disease in the future. 

“This work is especially important to the lives of women,” Lamont noted. “In Africa, poultry is generally managed by women, which gives them more access to good nutrition for their families and economic opportunities when they can sell eggs and meat birds.”