Italia, un sistema de producción cunicola integrada

Italy is the world leader in intensive rabbit production, but its production chain is characterized by a low associative degree within each segment and the scarce integration among different segments. An official program of collection and diffusion of technical and economic data is lacking. Producers of commercial hybrids are generally independent from breeders and feed producers and transformation industries are not horizontally integrated. Notwithstanding the presence of a large breeder association, Coniglio Veneto-Avitalia, with about 400 breeders corresponding to 20% of Italian rabbit production, its associates continue to buy the production factors and sell the animals independently each other in the free market. A part of the market of rabbit meat (25%) is integrated vertically by food industries; among them, two main feed producers, Veronesi y Martini, also control slaughter and transformation structures and are pushing to enlarge this form of integration. The last segment of the chain, i.e. distribution, is fractionated with differences between the organized distribution and the traditional one. In our paper, the main aspects of Italian rabbit productive system and the organization of production chain are summarized and the characteristics of the main integration contracts are presented, discussing about the major advantages of both breeders and rabbit feed and meat transformation industries.