Quito, May 23 (teleSUR-RHC) Ecuador is importing 1,300 cattle from Paraguay in May with five shipments to improve its genetic stock. The first two shipments have arrived, each carrying between 230 and 250 heads of cattle, and have been distributed throughout the country to strengthen the industry for national consumption and export.

“We are sponsoring a credit through the National Development Bank and importing animals of high genetic quality, which will improve our stock immediately. Paraguay has worked very effectively in putting a value on the animals and genetically classifying them, and they are now transferring 30 years of work to us so that we Ecuadoreans can have a better genetic stock quicker, that will put us in a good position in the national and foreign markets,” said under secretary of Cattle Margoth Hernandez following the arrival of the first cattle shipment.

Following the declared eradication of foot and mouth disease in February, there is the opportunity for growth in Ecuador's cattle industry, and the imported breeds of Brangus and Braford are renowned for their quality.

The national government has invested $3 million in this first month of imports, which seeks to repopulate and develop the national genetic stock. On the cattle, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Cattle Luis K. Valverde said: “They have similar characteristics of the cattle zones where they will be here. As you know, in the coming days Minister Javier Ponce will receive in Paris the certificate of the World Organization for Animal Health that the country is free of foot and mouth disease with vaccinations, what is opening is an immense universe of opportunities for Ecuadorean cattle. This is a true cattle revolution that we are creating.”