Ecobreves – MEXICO: Poultry Farmers Promote Certification

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MEXICO CITY, Jan 11 2010 (IPS) - Poultry farmers in the Mexico City area want to organize under a system that allows them to certify their production, following models that exist for sectors like corn and sugarcane farmers. “With the product system we can unite conventional, ecological and backyard farmers and then issue certificates that support them,” poultry project consultant Itzel Suárez told Tierramérica.

She has been following since 2006 the group Rural Women of Lomas de Tepemecatl del Ajusco, in southern Mexico City, which has 15 members who sell eggs at an environmental food shop.

The farms, the latest inaugurated in December, manage some 1,500 chickens that lay 5,000 eggs per week. Another 2,500 birds are in the process of maturing for production. They feed on natural grains, without antibiotics or chemicals.