Regulating Construction Work in Poultry Farms

The provisions of Ministerial Decree No. (333) of 2009, regarding the regulation of construction activities on all plots designated for livestock, plant, and poultry services, have recently been amended. In this context, we would like to highlight the section pertaining to poultry farms. Based on my extensive experience in this sector from 1973 to the present day—during which I have established five poultry processing plants, in addition to hundreds of broiler and layer houses, as well as feed mills—I feel it is my duty to offer some important recommendations to officials and stakeholders in this sector: First: The current term “poultry slaughterhouses” or “slaughterhouses” should be changed to “poultry processing plants,” as this term is more accurate and appropriate for the technical and functional nature of these facilities. Second: Based on recent reports in daily newspapers, I recommend not permitting the establishment of small broiler farms. Instead, efforts should be consolidated to establish complexes comprising no fewer than 10 farms, equivalent to approximately 50–100 poultry houses, to ensure operational efficiency and provide the appropriate infrastructure. Furthermore, poultry processing plants should only be licensed to companies whose annual production volume exceeds 3 to 5 million birds, noting that the cost of a poultry processing plant ranges from 300 dinars to one million dinars, depending on capacity, the use of labor-saving equipment, and the quality of the cooling system. It is strictly prohibited to establish any processing plant within the production farms themselves. The distance between production sites and the plant must not be less than one kilometer, and the plant must be oriented in the opposite direction of the airflow to maintain health and safety requirements.