Managua, April 27 — The executive director of IPSA, Ricardo Somarriba, highlighted the technological and productive advances that the livestock sector is driving today in Nicaragua to strengthen exports and modernize the country's sanitary control.
"Before, between 400 and 500 thousand births were calculated per year. Today we are talking about more than one million head of cattle at birth," said the head of the Institute of Agricultural Protection and Health (IPSA) in an interview with the Parliamentary Channel, cited by Informe Pastrán.
IPSA works within the framework of the National Production, Consumption, and Trade System to streamline procedures and increase exports of livestock products, while promoting strategies to improve reproductive efficiency, currently estimated at 45 to 47 percent.
Among these actions, food improvement campaigns and mineral supply stand out, aimed at increasing pregnancy rates and losses associated with failed heats, which impact milk production.
Somarriba highlighted that Nicaragua today has one of the most advanced livestock traceability systems in Latin America, implemented comprehensively over a 10-year strategy, which allows tracking each animal from birth to slaughter or export.
Among the main achievements, he mentioned the registration of more than 200 thousand farms with the Unique Permanent Exploitation Code (CUBE), real-time integration with 153 mayors' offices, and the use of a mobile application that allows producers to update their livestock inventory.
Likewise, the system guarantees movement control through sale letters, transfers, slaughterhouses, and the origin of each animal, which—he emphasized—supports the quality of exported products.
"Every meat, every dairy product, and every shrimp we export is traced," emphasized the IPSA head, highlighting that this tool has allowed access to demanding markets such as China and the United States, including Nicaraguan cheese.
The system also contributes to combating cattle theft, streamlines procedures in mayors' offices, and provides greater legal security to producers.
Currently, more than 230 thousand producers, between individuals and legal entities, have access to the livestock registry application.
Similarly, IPSA is preparing to extend traceability to crops such as coffee and cocoa, in correspondence with new European Union regulations against deforestation expected starting in 2027.
Somarriba also announced that in May Nicaragua will receive more than 55 representatives from Latin American countries, who will learn about the country's certified laboratories and sanitary procedures, consolidating it as a regional benchmark in agricultural health.
