Entrepreneurship Opportunities for Poultry Farmers in India

Dr. Dharmaraj G. Y.,

dharma714@gmail.om

Assistant Professor, Department of Livestock Farm Complex, Veterinary College Gadag.

Poultry sector in India has made a transition from Backyard Poultry to highly organized business activity over the span of four decades. Egg and broiler production in the country is increasing at a rate of 8-10% per annum.  India has the world’s largest population of livestock. India produces around 5.3 million MT of Meat and 75 billion eggs annually. Egg and poultry meat are inexpensive sources of protein, especially across different socio-economic groups in developing countries. The poultry sector is unorganized, with indigenous farming methods and ineffective animal health care services. Improved basic infrastructure, efficient advisory services coupled with advanced Research & Development could help promote commercial poultry sector in future. Both, the Government and private enterprises are driving innovation in the Indian poultry sector and making it possible to establish partnerships and collaborations for an exchange of learning, technologies, methods and markets.

In India poultry farming is becoming very popular now days because of shorter return of profit. The poultry industry is one of the most successful sectors. In a short period, the chicken industry, especially the broiler sector, has evolved from being fragmented and locally oriented, into something that is highly efficient and increasingly supplying customers nationwide and around the globe. In Karnataka state, recently the poultry sector is renamed as poultry farming and by this act the farmers no need to convert the poultry rearing land as per land utilization act.

Livestock scenario of India (20^th livestock census 2020):  India stands first place in total livestock population and milk production, 3^rd place in egg production, 6^th place in poultry meat production in the world ranking.

Animal Products Statistics

There is increase in egg production about 8.5%, meat production – 7.8 % annually. Tamil Nadu having the highest poultry population and the highest egg producing state is Andhra Pradesh with highest per capita availability of egg (372). Haryana is the highest poultry meat producing state of India. Egg production from commercial poultry: 84.91 billion (82.2% of total egg production). Egg production from backyard poultry: 18.41 billion (17.8% of total egg production). Meat production from poultry: 4.06 MT, almost 50% of total meat production

Entrepreneurship opportunities in Poultry Farming: in India:

The area of specialization in the poultry farming business includes;

• Chicken meat production
• Egg production
• Hatchery
• Poultry feed production
• Processing of chicken meat and eggs
• Packaging and marketing of poultry products
• Manufacturing of poultry equipment
• Poultry marketing and consultancy services
• Administration of poultry vaccines and medicines
• Sales of poultry equipment

The Factors to be considered for making Profitable Poultry Farming:

1. Food is one of the basic needs of man. Regardless of the economic situation, human beings must feed and since domestic birds are consumable; that makes poultry farming feasible.

2. India has a population of 1.324 billion and growing; bear it in mind that a huge population means a huge demand for food (egg and meat).
3. With the increased awareness on the health implications of red meat; there’s an increased demand for white meat and birds are a source of white meat.

How to Run a Poultry Farm Business Successfully:

For any entrepreneurship they need to know what they are doing, running a poultry farm can be a very lucrative business especially if you have the right information at your fingertips and also the technical knowledge needed to run the poultry farm business.

Having an in-depth knowledge of the poultry business, you should seek to network with other poultry farmers as well as poultry farm association bodies. This will help especially in situations when there is an outbreak of diseases that could affect your livestock. Tips and advices from your experts will help in saving your investment and also ensure that the business is run successfully.

The government and the private enterprise in poultry

In India, rural poultry farming contributes to about 40% of total egg production in India. It receives Government support through the State-run co-operatives and largely depends on rearing native breeds like Aseel and Kadaknath. Backyard poultry farming provides livelihood and food security for rural populations also assist financially.

Private enterprises and businesses in India have also been proactive in the research & development of parent stock (both indigenous and international breeds), meat breeds and egg layers. Private companies like Venkateshwara Hatcheries, Suguna Foods and Skylark Hatcheries have developed international poultry breeds to suit Indian environmental conditions. Veterinary institution like KVAFSU, Bidar has also developed Giriraja  and Swarnadhar hybrid bids for benefiting the rural poultry farming.

Government of India Scheme for Animal Husbandry:

Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF): Hon’ble Prime Minister has announced for setting up of Rs. 15000 crore for Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) under Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus package.

AHIDF has been approved for incentivizing investments by

1) Individual entrepreneurs,

2) Private companies,

3) MSME,

4) Farmers Producers Organizations (FPOs) and

5) Section 8 companies to establish

(i) The dairy processing and value addition infrastructure,

(ii) Meat processing and value addition infrastructure and

(iii) Animal Feed Plant.

Objectives:

To help increasing of milk and meat processing capacity and product diversification thereby providing greater access for unorganized rural milk and meat producers to organized milk and meat market.

Eligible Entities in Poultry Sector

• Meat Processing Plant – New / Existing
• Large scale Integrated Poultry Meat processing
• Establishment of Standalone / integrated value added product manufacturing units. Ex. Sausage, Nuggets, Salami or any other meat product.
• Poultry Feed plant – Mini / Medium / Large, Mineral Mixture plant, Animal Feed Testing laboratory.

Benefits of the scheme

• Loan up to 90% of total project.
• Interest subvention – 3% (it’s a huge benefit considering general interest rate as 9% after subvention will be saving 33% on interest. If it is 12%, the saving will be 25%.
• Credit Guarantee – Only MSME up to 25%
• Repayment period – 8 years (including 2 years moratorium)

National Livestock Mission

The focus of the scheme is on entrepreneurship development and breed improvement in poultry, sheep, goat and piggery including feed and fodder development.

The scheme is implemented with the following three Sub-Missions:

Sub-Mission on Breed Development of Livestock & Poultry

Sub-Mission on Feed and Fodder development

Sub-Mission on Extension and Innovation

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