Poultry Sector has organized itself into an organized business. But this development is highly skewed. Comment

Over the years India’s poultry sector has transformed itself from a supplementary backyard activity to a highly organised farming business as:

• Over 80% of egg and poultry meat output in the country is from organised commercial farms.
• At an average rate of Rs 4, the 100 billion-plus egg production would be worth more than Rs 40,000 crore annually, with the roughly 4 million tonnes of poultry meat at Rs 75/kg adding another Rs 30,000 crore.

Skewed Development

• More than half of India’s egg production is accounted for by just three southern states: Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
• Despite the industry’s organised character, the productivity levels remain relatively low. An average hen in the US lays some 289 eggs per year, whereas that number in India is about 108 from desi and 209 from improved birds.
• Most of the poultry farms in India have no proper climate control or quarantine systems. This exposes the birds to diseases and abiotic stresses. To protect against these risks, the bird density has to be kept low that, in turn, reduces egg yields.

How the transformation into an organised sector has helped?

• Being an organised industry, almost every farmer is integrated along the value chain.
• There has been great scope for rural entrepreneurship with relatively low investment and short gestation/payback.

Sustaining even the existing growth momentum requires developing markets, both domestic and overseas.