Nearly 20 French companies are set to take part in the upcoming first edition of VIV Middle East Africa, an expo for the livestock industry and particularly for poultry farming, in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

The event takes place from February 15 to 17 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

Organised by Business France, the national agency supporting the international development of the French economy, companies exhibiting in the French pavilion will showcase animal feed, nutrition and health, specialist equipment for poultry and cattle rearing, handling and slaughtering equipment, feed preparation and distribution, products and services for animal reproduction and poultry genetics, a statement said.

The event brings together the whole of the poultry and cattle industries from upstream (genetics, insemination, nutrition and health) to downstream (slaughtering and meat processing), not forgetting breeding equipment and materials.

Livestock now represents a significant part of agriculture, though as yet insufficient to meet the needs: breeding of dairy cattle, sheep, goats, camels and chickens is integrated alongside imports of all inputs – genetics, feeds and nutrition, veterinary medicine, equipment, etc.

France is a major breeder and a leader in the European Union for its productivity, value-added products and the global distribution of its exceptionally diverse range of breeds. France is also one of the world’s leading producers of milk and meat thanks to the vitality of its livestock.

It is also Europe’s leading producer of poultry, producing a combined total of just over 1.8 million tonnes in 2014 (13.5 per cent of total production in the European Union). - TradeArabia News Service