Legendary effort November 2014 Poultry The term 'poultry' applies to a wide variety of bird species such as chicken (domestic fowl), duck, turkey, geese, pigeon, guinea fowl, pheasants, quail and other game birds. In India, poultry is very often synonymous to chicken, as they are more commonly found in our country and are an important resource for meat and eggs. Chicken and up to certain extent, ducks are kept for commercial production of both eggs and meat. Turkey, guinea fowl, geese and others are maintained for meat. Chicken accounts for more than 90% of the total poultry population of the country. Jungle fowls are believed to be the ancestors of the modern domestic breeds, which are still found in some parts of India. Paradoxically, almost all the domestic breeds have been developed elsewhere and not in their home tract. Poultry ( 1 )
What is Poultry? The term 'poultry' applies to a wide variety of bird species such as chicken (domestic fowl), duck, turkey, geese, pigeon, guinea fowl, pheasants, quail and other game birds. In India, poultry is very often synonymous to chicken, as they are more commonly found in our country and are an important resource for meat and eggs. Chicken and up to certain extent, ducks are kept for commercial production of both eggs and meat. Turkey, guinea fowl, geese and others are maintained for meat. Chicken accounts for more than 90% of the total poultry population of the country. Jungle fowls are believed to be the ancestors of the modern domestic breeds, which are still found in some parts of India. Paradoxically, almost all the domestic breeds have been developed elsewhere and not in their home tract. Introduction of Poultry: Poultry occupies a unique position in the livestock economy of India. With a vibrant indigenous industry compared to other developing countries, it is the world s fastest growing poultry industry and one of the fast-growing agri-business activities in India. India occupies the 2 nd place in the world egg production and is among the top 20 producers in the world in broilers. Indian poultry industry provides direct and indirect employment to over 4 million people, particularly in rural areas and contributes about Rs. 40,000 crores to the national GDP. Layers in India have registered annual compounded growth rate of 7-8% for the past three decades. There are a number of small poultry dressing plants in the country producing dressed chicken. In addition to these plants, there are five modern integrated poultry processing plants producing dressed chicken, chicken cut parts and other chicken products. These plants also manufacture egg powder and frozen egg-yolk for export. The per capita availability in India has increased to about 42 eggs and 1.6 kg poultry meat. Considering the consumption level of 300 eggs and 11 kg of meat in many developed countries and the recommended per capita consumption of our Nutrition Board of 180 eggs and 9 kg meat, India with a population of 1.2 billion is considered by the world to be at the threshold of a move up in the World Poultry map and may occupy the No.1 position in the coming years. History of Poultry Development in India: Poultry farming was mostly a backyard venture up to 1957. The first organized effort to develop poultry was made in that year, when the second Five Year Plan was launched. An amount of Rs. 2.8 crores was sanctioned by the government to develop poultry. An All India Poultry Development Project was initiated, wherein regional centers were set up in Bangalore, Bombay, Bhuvaneshwar, Delhi and Simla as they get a good quality of stock due to their respective agro climatic conditions. Their functions also included promoting poultry farming extensively and providing training facilities to the officers of the neighboring states. Day old chicks of White Leghorn and Rhode Island breeds from reputed breeding farms in USA were imported as a foundation stock. Along with it, all the necessary equipments were also imported. Besides, 269 poultry extension cum development centers, each with a unit of 100 layers of improved breeds, were set up in different parts of the country. The period between the Second and the Fourth Five Year Plans was actually the turning point in the history of the poultry industry in the country. The Intensive Poultry Development Programme was introduced in the Third Five Year Plan to provide all the essential inputs and services to local farmers in the form of a package deal. Along with the poultry boom, the growing menace of poultry disease also had to be tackled in this period, leading to the inclusion of poultry science as a subject in the Agriculture Universities. The middle and late seventies recorded a tremendous progress in the poultry industry. Central Avian Research Institute, Izatngar, Near Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh) was established in 1979 to provide strong research support to the poultry Poultry ( 2 )
industry, both in public as well as the private sector. Some of the factors which favored the growth and development of the poultry farming in the country were as follows. Small initial investment; Short generation interval of poultry as compared to other livestock; Availability of quality chicks; Quick, assured and better returns compared to other livestock; Availability of trained manpower; Better understanding and knowledge of the improved and scientific methods of feeding, management and health control; Easy loan facilities; and Poultry s nutritive value and economic feasibility. Status of Poultry in India: Poultry enterprises in India can distinctly be grouped in to two categories i.e. developmental poultry farms and commercial poultry farms. 1. Developmental poultry farms: It refers to village/unorganized production, as this enterprise operates in a low scale, using less capital and traditional technology. The unit volume of production is low due to the above constraints. However, the concept of developmental poultry is very relevant for India s rural areas to enhance cash earnings of rural poor population. Poultry farming was included in various Central and State Government sponsored programs, such as Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP), Special Livestock Production Program (SLPP), Tribal Development Program (TDP), etc. to popularize poultry farming in rural areas. However, the growth of developmental poultry did not succeed at Desi fowl level. 2. Commercial poultry production: Commercial/industrial poultry production refers to the large-scale enterprises where the number of birds per unit is large enough to reap maximum advantages of technological improvement. These enterprises present various economies of scale of operation and thus, this sector has remained highly significant over the years. However, it has been confined to some pockets of the country. Introduction of Dr. B.V. Rao and his effort for Poultry: Few have the determination to cherish their dream, nurture it and translate it into reality. One such man was Dr. B.V.Rao. Through sheer hard work and conviction, he transformed poultry from being a simple cottage enterprise into a truly integrated industry all in a period of 25 years, inspired and greatly supported by his wife Smt. Uttara Devi Rao who had started a small poultry business in Hyderabad in 1969. The dream took shape in 1971 with the setting up of the Venkateshwara Hatcheries Ltd (VH) - The Flagship Company of the VH Group. Since then, there has been no looking back. Nurtured and developed under the genius of Dr. B.V.Rao, Venkateshwara Hatcheries Ltd., went on to become one of the largest and most integrated poultry groups in the world. It is for this reason that Dr. B.V. Rao is often referred to as the Father of Modern Poultry in India. He was awarded India s highest civilian award The Padmashree in 1996. Egg Marketing: While for any agriculture product, the producer gets only 30% to 35% of the consumer rupee; In poultry the Poultry ( 3 )
entrepreneurs and farmers of eggs produced in India obtain 70% to 75% of the consumer rupees. This change came by the work of Dr. B.V. Rao the Father of Modern Poultry in India. He put efforts for poultry development and egg price declaration by National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC). National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC): NECC is an association of Poultry farmers and traders. It was established in 1982 by Dr. B.V. Rao and a group of farmers to enable farmers in declaring their own farm-gate price for eggs. It is a unique institution with no parallel in the world. Through it, irrespective of size or location of the farm, the entire production at every individual farm-gate, gets the official notified price as decided by elected farmer representatives of NECC everyday, which is published in local leading dailies. National Egg Coordination Committee is a charitable trust with 24 zones and 118 local committees. It has 25,000 farmers as its members spread out all over India in every production centre NECC is helping layer farmers obtain reasonable, remunerative, viable price for eggs, based on demand and supply for a production centre and its connected consumption centers. To ensure traders do not exploit farmers, NECC undertakes a Market Intervention Scheme as and where necessary by extension of subsidy or directly procuring eggs for cold storage in the domestic market. To enforce the price declared, NECC also has its market arm, Agrocorpex India Limited (ACIL), a Public Limited Company, entirely owned and managed by poultry farmers. NECC has also been instrumental, at the instance of poultry farmers, in incorporating Bharat Egg Producer s Association, which encourages export of shell eggs, promotions of eggs, promotion of eggs in electronic and print median, sponsors sports and related activities to promote consumption of poultry products. NECC is the only agency, well-recognized by policy makers in the State and the Centre as the representative body of poultry industry and has been effective to get its grievances addressed and remedial measures initiated. India is the third highest producer of egg in the world but the per capita availability of eggs in India is only around 55 per person per year as against the National Institute of Nutrition recommendation of 180 eggs per capita per year. The second Friday of October is celebrated as the World Egg Day by the International Egg Commission to help raise awareness about the nutritional benefits of eggs. Structure of Poultry Farming: Poultry farming involves breeding and rising for various purposes. Breeding farms hatch and raise poultry for sale to other farms. Broiler farms rear chickens for their meat, procuring day-old chicks and keeping them for around six weeks. Layer farms keep chickens to produce eggs. Another category of operators, which can loosely be termed integrators, keep breeding stock and also operate hatcheries and commercial broiler farms. There are estimated to be roughly one lakh layer farmers and an equal number of broiler farmers. About 70% of these are small-scale (3,000-10,000 birds) and medium-scale (10,000-50,000 birds) farmers. Only 10% are the large-scale farmers with units varying from 50,000 to 4 lakh birds. Large farms require a good level of automation. Automation has become necessary for a number of reasons, such as hygiene and sanitation, disease prevention and in the case of hatchery operations, to produce a greater number of chicks in single hatch and to ensure better quality chicks. The whole organized poultry sector uses hybrid varieties of Poultry ( 4 )
poultry and has adopted cages. The small and marginal farmers generally operate on the deep litter system. In terms of technology, farmers have adopted new feeding and water systems and new management, health care and hygiene practices. Challenges and opportunities in Poultry industry: The challenges in Indian poultry industry are multiple. Raw material availability and prices are already an issue. Considering that about 1kg of corn is required to produce 1kg of broiler (based on FCR = 1.65 and 60% corn in feed), it means that, for broiler production only, depending on the different forecasts, an additional 1 to 3 million tonnes of corn will be needed in the next few years. Another challenge or issue is the fact that production is not evenly distributed in the country. More than 60% of broiler is produced in 5 states (Andhra Pradesh is at the top with 20%, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab and West Bengal) while more than 60% of eggs are produced in 5 states (Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu). This creates logistic and quality issues related to transport. The third challenge that India needs to overcome, if it wants to continue expanding its poultry production, is a lack in education and access to technology. For instance, most of the poultry farms use open buildings, which means no control of climate and high risks related to potential poor bio-security. On the positive side, this means production costs are reduced. Indian poultry producers also have to deal with a lack of genetic diversity. Two breeds, namely Vencobb and Babcock, represent respectively more than 70% of birds in broiler and 80% in layers. This means a potential rapid spread of diseases across the country. However, these breeds are well adapted to Indian conditions, but require optimum managers, veterinarians, nutritionists or researchers to ensure a top quality management in each operation. Another challenge is Bird flu, which mainly affects the domestic poultry (chicken, duck etc). The disease spreads from infected birds to other winged creatures through contact with nasal and respiratory secretions and also due to contamination of feed and water. When Bird flu attacked chicken in Maharashtra in 2006, loss of about Rs.9000 crore was incurred. To allow expansion, efforts are needed to change the way poultry products are offered in India. Less than 5% of eggs are processed and about 90% of poultry meat in India is consumed in fresh form, as many consumers prefer to buy live poultry and get it dressed in their presence. This has several consequences as it is difficult to transport non-processed products from one region to another one, and high mortality and shrinking rates due to transport of live birds are observed. Also, prices are determined by daily local supply and demand, which encourages volatility. More efforts are needed to improve supply and distribution of poultry meat in India. Indeed, poultry dressing facilities are usually manual and lack sanitary measures. This does not ensure a hygienic and scientific slaughter, and proper utilization of by-products. There is also a shortage of adequate and cost effective infrastructure, leading to poor distribution and risks on quality. Cold storage facilities are lacking, which is a serious issue because meat and egg demand varies a lot over the year, due to different religious rituals. Last but not least, adequate quality control standards need to be implemented. For instance, large eggs are sold at the same price as small ones, which do not encourage producers to deliver quality. In summary, investments in infrastructure as well as quality certification systems are necessary to ensure growth of the Indian poultry industry. One should, however, keep in mind that same needs are required for imported products. Support from Government to Poultry Sector: The remarkable growth achieved in the Indian poultry sector is due to several factors such as initiation of pure line breeding within the country in both public and private sectors -leading to availability of best commercial layer and broiler chicks and parallel development of other inputs and sub-sectors like feed mill, hatchery and farm appliances, Poultry ( 5 )
poultry biological, feed analytical and disease diagnostic labs., modern mechanized poultry and egg processing plants, vertical and horizontal integration in poultry farming, availability of soft credit and above all ever increasing demand of poultry products, etc. In addition, the Central Avian Research Institute, Izatnagar, Project Directorate on Poultry, Hyderabad and some State Agricultural or Veterinary Universities having sound Poultry Science education and research base, in conjunction with the Central Poultry Development Organization have played a key role in providing highly qualified manpower, training support to poultry farmers/entrepreneurs and R&D support to the growth of poultry sector. Poultry Contribution to the Economy in India: The poultry sector has undergone a paradigm shift in structure and operation during the last two decades. It has transformed itself from a mere backyard activity into a major commercial activity with participation by big players and successful implementation of contract poultry farming on a large scale. India is emerging as the world s 2 nd largest poultry market, with an annual growth of more than 14% production and 61 million tonnes or 3.6 percent of global egg production. The annual growth rate of egg production is 5-8%. Apart from this, India ranks 6 th in broiler products (125 billion rupees) with an annual output of 2.39 million tonnes of broiler meat, as per the estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India. The total poultry industry is valued at about at about 350 billion rupees. The per capita consumption per year is approx 2.4 kg, which is much, lower that the National Institute of Nutrition s recommendation of 11kg. With the rise of middle class and increased urbanization, a major population prefers to go for non-vegetarian. Today about 3 million farmers and 15 million non-farmers are employed in the poultry industry that is growing poultry ingredients for feed and contributing about Rs. 26,000 crore to the national income. It is estimated that the Indian Poultry Industry has been growing at a much faster pace, along with other industries such as BPO and Securities market. Over the years, the poultry industry in India has contributed approximately US$299 million to the Gross National Product (GNP). Employment opportunities: Three decades ago in India, when egg and broiler production was 10 billion and 30 billion, respectively, the total employment numbers in the poultry sector was not much encouraging. As income and employment in the crop sector started decreasing, the non-crop sector, which includes dairy and poultry, underwent a significant shift. Due to the demand for poultry increasing and production reaching 37 billion eggs and 1 billion broilers, the Poultry Industry today employs around 1.6 million people. At least 80% of employment in Indian Poultry Industry generates directly by the farmers, while 20% is engaged in feed, pharmaceuticals, equipment, drivers and other services accounting to the requirement. Additionally, there might be similar number of people roughly 1.6 million who are engaged in marketing and other channels servicing the poultry sector. Top leading Companies Leading broiler integrators in India are as follows: Venkateswara Group, Pune Suguna Poultry Farms Ltd, Coimbatore Poultry ( 6 )
Pioneer Poultry Group, Coimbatore Godrej Agrovet Ltd, Mumbai Sky Lark group, North India Jafa com feed Conclusion: Poultry farming is a viable business activity and has got vast scope for growth in India. Just as the decade of seventies saw a record growth in egg production and that of 21st century in broiler production, the last 3 decades saw an unprecedented growth in egg production and broiler production and the emergence of modern poultry processing as an ancillary industry. In the rural sector too, poultry farming is gaining in popularity as it provides some of the cheapest sources of protein rich food as well as serves, as an avenue for enhancing the income of small and marginal rural farmers. The development of poultry through the application of modem science and technology will greatly contribute to improving the socio-economic conditions of the poor farmers by making poultry farming more productive and remunerative. The introduction of better stock and efficient husbandry practices with an efficiently organized marketing system would make poultry a successful enterprise for Indian farmers. Poultry ( 7 )