Arab Poultry Breeders held its 9th OMMAT School for its customers in the Gulf region at the Holiday Inn Jeddah Gate hotel. The four-day event started on the 23rd of November and lasted until the 26th of November 2015.

This year’s event was sponsored by the Ministry of Agriculture, represented by Eng. Khalid Al-Ghamdi (General Manager of Agricultural Affairs in Mecca.)
The annual event, which was organized successfully by OMMAT in close cooperation with Lohmann Tierzucht for the 9th year running, has many purposes. It’s not unusual for OMMAT and Lohmann Tierzucht who believe in the advantages of breeding goals and its role in improving the same, to spread the word on their current achievements in the field in order to further enhance the table egg industry in the Gulf region. One of the main goals of this event was to reach out personally to the industry and deliver our messages though our speakers who interact with different people from different cultures including decision makers, investors, managers, engineers, consultants, vets and technical staff.

Successful Start

The event began with a recitation of the Holy Quran followed by a welcoming speech by the Chairman of the Board, Eng. Hussein Bahri. Mr. Moyassar Bahri, the General Manager, then took over the microphone to warmly welcome members of the audience who came from various countries in the Gulf region before commencing with the lecture programme.

The programme contained a wide variety of topics. There were 17 lectures altogether and these were thoroughly discussed throughout the 4-day programme. 9 of these lectures covered issues on the most important poultry diseases and methods of disease prevention (i.e. of Newcastle, IB, Avian Influenza, Fowl POX, IBD, Mycoplasma and Coccidiosis), and ways to control and vaccinate the birds (including the application of vector vaccines). In addition, the subject of the Avian immune system and poultry vaccination plus a detailed lecture that covered the Eliza (serological) monitoring test programmes and techniques, were also included in the programme. The two topics of Bio-security and Basic Concepts in Poultry Feed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) were discussed in two of the 17 lectures. There were two speeches on ventilation; one covered the design of layer complexes in hot climates and other was on modern ventilation techniques in poultry houses. An introduction to the modern technology for egg collection, “Moba” was also included. The significant contribution by the Lohmann team was noticeable with the discussions made by Mr. Ron Eek and Dr. Maher Al-Azab regarding the management of layers to achieve top performance & the nutrition of Lohmann layers and pullets, respectively.

On the second day, the Muslim attendees were given the unique opportunity to perform Umrah. This was part of the programme and was well-organised in advance by OMMAT’s chairman and staff. The guests were treated to a fun-filled rejuvenating beach trip to the Red Sea on day three that included lunch and dinner. The scientific programme was concluded on the fourth day.

Eng. Ekrimeh Mahasneh, who returned back to the company as a CEO after 10 years of being away, gave a speech in which he highlighted the objectives of the group from now on. The group will continue to focus on quality and in addition to that, also more on customers and employees with the introduction and implementation of an online training programme. All of these are the most important key factors for the success of the company.

Conclusion and Award Ceremony

Eng. Hussein Bahri concluded the 4-day seminar with words of wisdom in his closing speech in which he stressed on the importance of continuing the concept of such events. The next OMMAT event will be renamed to “OMMAT Academy”. The academy should also include lectures on improving personal, managerial, marketing, financial and HR-related issues & skills in order to improve the quality of daily work. Aside from this, it is equally as important to maximize the adaptation of the complete quality system, especially in light of the huge challenges the industry in KSA are currently being confronted with. This can and should be achieved by reducing the subsidies on energy sources and feed, in addition to the increased pressures of diseases in the area and the continuous increase of labour costs. All these factors have led & will continue to lead to more significant increases in production costs that need to be more on the decline by optimizing performances & supportive functions.

Last but not certainly not least, Eng. Khalid AL-Ghamdi gave his speech on behalf of the Ministry of Agriculture of KSA in which he thanked and showed his appreciation towards the efforts done by OMMAT in developing the food and table egg industry in the region.

The participants were then awarded with certificates of successful participation and a group photo was taken. Everyone returned back to their respective hotels happily and the 9th OMMAT school was successfully concluded.

Al-Azab