Emerging Challenges & Opportunities for Sustaining Future Expansion of Poultry Sector in India
Livestock sector plays a critical role as a subsector of agriculture in the Indian economy. The sector has huge potential in terms of its contribution in total economy, employment generation and world trade. The sector comprising poultry meat, eggs, dairy and fisheries witnessed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.15 per cent. As per the estimates of National Accounts Statistics, 2020 for sector wise Gross Value Added (GVA) of agriculture and allied sectors, the contribution of livestock in total agriculture and allied sector GVA (at constant prices) has increased from 24.32 per cent (2014-15) to 29.35 per cent (2019-20). Livestock sector contributed 4.35 per cent of total GVA in 2019-20. Development of the livestock sector has led to improvement in per capita availability of milk, eggs and meat. According to FAOSTAT production data for 2020-2021, India ranks 3rd in egg production and 6th in broiler production in the world. Egg production in the country has increased from 78.48 billion in 2014-15 to 122.11 billion 2020-21. The per capita availability of eggs is at 91 eggs per annum in 2020- 21. Meat production in the country has increased from 6.69 million tons in 2014-15 to 8.80 million tons in 2020-21. The average per capita consumption of meat in the country is around 5.7 kg per annum. As per the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, more than 85% of India’s poultry meat is produced by organised commercial farms and the rest is produced by backyard poultry, mostly in the rural areas. Out of commercial broiler production, major poultry companies who follow vertically integrated operations have a share of around 60-65%. The poultry sector at present provides employment opportunities to around 6 million small and medium farmers (who own farms with 5,000-10,000 broiler size).
Poultry is one of the most important and fastest-growing sectors of agriculture sectors today in India. The poultry sector majorly maintains the requirements of protein and nutrition. India today is one of the largest manufacturers of eggs and broiler meat. The poultry industry in India has endured an exemplary transformation in structure and operation during the last two decades and modified into a mega-industry with the presence of a huge number of workers from a mere backward poultry farming that appears to be very fast. When we see the complete overview, the production of crops has been growing at a rate of 1.5-2% per annum whereas the production of eggs and broilers has been growing at a rate of 8-10% per annum. India is the world’s 3rd largest egg producer and 6th largest producer of broilers. The Indian poultry market, comprising of broilers and eggs was worth INR 1,750 Billion in 2018 and was worth INR 2049 Billion in 2019. The market is further projected to reach INR 4,340 Billion by 2024, growing at a CAGR of 16.2% during 2019-2024.
Growth drivers for the Indian poultry industry: The commercialization of the Indian poultry industry over the past decades has involved sizeable investments in poultry breeding, hatching, rearing, and processing. Indian farmers have moved from rearing non-descript birds to rearing newly developed hybrids like shaver, Babcock, hyaline which ensure more rapid growth, good livability, excellent FCR, and high profits. Other factors that are responsible for the rapid growth of the poultry sector are initiatives of private enterprises, fewer government interventions, and very considerable indigenous poultry genetics capabilities and support from the complementary veterinary health, poultry feed, poultry equipment, and poultry processing sectors. Apart from this, India is one of the few countries in the world that has put into place a sustained Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) egg production project. Some other factors are: –
- Expanding middle class
● Per capita consumption and income
● Urbanization
● Young and growing population
● Creating awareness regarding processed meat and protein intake.
● Food security to be moved to nutritional security.
Problems associated with the poultry industry: There are some threatening agents to the poultry sector,
- A significant difference in the industry across various regions of India: – more than 60% of broilers are produced in these 5 states of India (Andhra Pradesh with 20%, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Punjab, and West Bengal) while more than 60% of eggs are produced in these 5 states of India (Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu). This creates logistic and quality issues related to transport.
2.Competition from the international market: On opening up duty-free imports, lifting of trade barriers, etc.
3. Disease outbreaks: Fowl pox, Fowl cholera, Avian influenza, E.coli infections, etc.
4. Feed ingredients and other logistics cost: Small-scale producers are facing problems like high feed and transport costs, expensive vaccine costs, veterinary care services, and the non-availability of credit. It has been noticed that due to high capital investments some farmers have been switched from layer production to broiler production as output in broiler units can be fetched in six weeks.
5. Antibiotic misuse in poultry farms: It is leading to multi-drug resistance properties in bacteria (because of unsafe disposal of poultry litter).
6. Lack of insufficient biosecurity standards taken by poultry keepers.
7. Presence of Salmonella spp. and Cholesterol in poultry meat.
8. Noticeable price fluctuations.
Challenges:
- Manoeuvrability in broiler prices-Management of broiler meat production during lean seasons when consumption of the product is cut down by the consumers. For e.g., Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri festival, etc or when consumption is increased by the consumers for e.g., Ramzan, Eid, etc
- Maneuverability in the price of feed ingredients such as maize and soya-As maize and soya together comprise of 90% of the total feed ingredients.
Suggestions-popularization of production of hybrid maize and soya products.Introducing GM crops produced at a lower cost of production for higher yield. - The dependency of poultry producer on live bird sale over-processed or frozen poultry meat.
Suggestions-Spreading awareness in customers regarding the consumption of processed meat as all the developed nations have already switched to processed meat and the present world trend is ready- to eat. Government regulatory policies can also make a difference.
4.Availability of trained workers- There are very few numbers of trained professionals available to the poultry sector.
Suggestions- All veterinary institutes and diploma colleges to be suggested to start various courses on poultry production, feed technology, hatchery management, entrepreneurship, etc. Efficient recruitments and a fair pay scale to be offered so that youth develop more interest in making a career in the poultry sector.
- Government food safety norms:Demand for food safety is high on both government and consumer.
Suggestions-active action plans to be conducted to defend and build trust among consumers regarding the usage of antibiotics and other hearsay. Collaboration by the government is the need of the hour.
Opportunities-
There are some measures to promote poultry industry growth in India-
- The poultry industry in India is constantly growing due to the use of modern technology and switching from live bird to fresh chilled and frozen poultry product market.
● A novel aisle started with the integrated poultry operations over the country.
● Policies that ensure supplies of competitively priced corn and soybeans.
● An increase in per capita consumption of 1 egg or 50 gm poultry meat will generate an estimated 25,000 additional jobs that will create employment opportunities for youth.
● Now the latest trend in the poultry sector is to produce designer eggs. These are organic eggs rich in omega 3 fatty acids and with lower levels of saturated fats and cholesterol.
Driving demand of Poultry Meat
In the last three decades, the India poultry market has undergone significant transformation, and the region has emerged as one of the major sectors of the economy. The poultry market in the country is being largely driven by the rising disposable incomes and changing consumer food habits. In the post Covid19 pandemic phase also the demand for the protein rich food like poultry meat and eggs have increased sharply. The growing awareness regarding health and wellness is further driving the demand for a protein-rich diet. According to industry estimates, the Indian poultry industry in 2022 was valued at around $28 billion. Aided by the increasing popularity of online services and growing online food delivery channels, the market is expected to witness a further growth in the next 5 to 10 years with a growth in CAGR of 8.1%. As per Agricultural and Processed Food Products Development Authority (APEDA) data, in 2021-22, India exported 3,20,240 tons of poultry products valued at Rs 529 crore ($ 71 million). Traditional export destinations have been Oman, Maldives, Indonesia, Vietnam and Russia. Malaysia for the first commenced importing eggs from Namakkal, Tamil Nadu recently. Though both the quantity and value of the exported processed poultry products have increased during the last few years and further efforts are being made to increase poultry exports from India, the trade is very small in comparison to the global trade. To support the livestock sector, the government has initiated several measures. The Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) of Rs 15000 crore is being implemented from June 2020. The key objectives of the scheme is to fulfill the objective of protein enriched quality food requirement of the growing population of the country and prevent malnutrition. As far as poultry development is concerned the fund has provisions for technologically assisted layer farms with environmentally controlled systems, broiler breeder farms with environmentally controlled systems and hatcheries with environmentally controlled facilities. The support is also provided for Meat processing and value addition infrastructure and establishment of animal feed plants including poultry feed. Under AHIDF, farmer producer organizations (FPOs), Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Section 8 Companies, Private Companies and individual entrepreneur availing credit facilities will get 90% loan for which 3% interest subvention is provided by the Central Government. The Central Government is also providing Credit Guarantee of 25% of total borrowings for those projects which are fulfilling the definition of MSME projects. The National Livestock Mission has been revised and realigned with an outlay of Rs 2,300 crore for the five years commencing from 2021-22. The mission aims atdevelopment of entrepreneurs in rural poultry. The central Government is currently providing 50% subsidy up to Rs 25 Lakhs to establish parent farm, rural hatchery, brooder cum mother unit for production of hatching eggs with minimum 1000 parent layers and chicks and rearing of the said chick up to four weeks in the mother unit. The Self Help Group, Farmers Producer Organizations organization’s (FPO)/Farmers Cooperatives organization’s (FCOs) /Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) and Section 8 companies can avail financial assistance under the mission. Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying has developed an online portal for a completely digitized Process with all the important documents to be uploaded on the portal nlm.udyamimitra.in.
Key future challenges
Rising consumption of poultry meat, supply of feed in the coming years has to be sustained to avoid volatility in the feed prices. Poultry feed comprises mainly maize and soya meal and the country needs to increase supplies of feed in the coming years. Another key challenge is that soybean productivity has largely stagnated in the last few years. In August 2021, as an exception due to domestic supply constraint, the government had allowed import of 1.2 million tons of genetically modified (GM) soybean meal to help the poultry industry tide over higher feed prices. The government must take steps to increase feed supplies and allow cultivation of GM hybrid soybean so that future feed supplies could be assured. For the future demand of poultry meat, the government must liberalize imports of GM soybean meal and maize.
Trust on creating infrastructure of Poultry Processing
Processing and marketing of poultry range from live bird markets to highly sophisticated, fully automated, adhere to International Standards Organization (ISO) certified facilities and ready-to-eat convenience products. Lack or inadequacy of refrigeration is probably the biggest challenge poultry industry faces. The poultry industry in the country is consistently growing due to the use of modern technology and there has been a gradual shift in demand from live bird to fresh chilled and frozen poultry product market. The government must step in supporting the sector in creating infrastructure for reducing losses in the poultry value chain. The better transportation infrastructure for live birds and more cold storage facilities for the processed meat will go a long way in modernizing the industry while sustaining the future growth prospects of poultry meat. Although the wet market continues to dominate the poultry industry, there has been a significant increase in e-commerce with the expansion of home delivery of various poultry meats and processed meat. Now there is an urgent need for setting up of modern poultry processing plants to cater to both domestic as well as export markets.
In the present nation is a market with an investment-friendly environment. The Indian poultry industry is booming and emerging as the world’s 2nd largest market. The growth rate is growing at the phenomenal rate of 12-15% every year. Poultry meat is accepted by everyone as there is no religious taboo associated with consumption and it is not that expensive as other nutritional sources are. Hence, the poultry industry is not only providing a cheap source of dietary protein to the consumers but employment opportunities also.
Compiled & Shared by- Team, LITD (Livestock Institute of Training & Development)
Image-Courtesy-Google
Reference-On Request.
