Escalating cost of production has put poultry farmers in the State in the soup.
The price of poultry feed has increased manifold in the post COVID-19 phase. The price of raw materials required for poultry feed production, including soya meal, maize and rice bran oil, has showed a quantum jump. The State is relying on neighbouring States like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra for poultry feed and the raw materials for feed production.
Price of soya meal increased from ₹35 to ₹105 a kg, rice bran oil from ₹62 to ₹135 and maize from ₹15 to ₹23 a kg. The price of 50 kg of broiler and layer feed increased from ₹1,350 and ₹1,200 to ₹2,500 and ₹1,580 respectively.
The cost of a day-old broiler chick is ₹35 in the State.
40,000 tonnes a month
“Kerala requires 40,000 tonnes of chicken meat a month. Of this, 100,00 tonnes come from nearby States like Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Public sector contributes nearly 1% of production through market interventions. State requires nearly 1.75 crores of chicks a month. Due to the increase in production cost, more than 25% of broiler growers are on the verge of dropping out,” says T.P. Sethumadhavan, former Director of Entrepreneurship, Kerala Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (KVASU).
Currently the cost of production of 1 kg of live chicken is ₹108-₹110. Wholesale and retail prices are ₹122 and ₹142 a kg respectively.
Appropriate relief measures were required to sustain the poultry industry and to improve the livelihood of more than 5 lakh poultry farmers, says T.S. Pramod, secretary, Poultry Farmers and Traders’ Association.
Subsidies
“Like for agriculture sector, poultry sector should be given subsidies in electricity tariff. Broiler growers should be given subsidy for poultry feed and chicks too. The government needs to fix the benchmark price for poultry meat and egg in the State,” he says.
The traders’ association is in touch with south other Indian States to create a platform for sustainable poultry production. Moreover, the poultry sector requires structured insurance protection, interest-free loans and grants in aid to support processing and marketing infrastructure, he adds.
Cluster-based production
At a time when farmer producer organisations are becoming active across the country, Kerala requires cluster-based poultry production and poultry-based farmer producer organisations. In order to promote value addition in poultry, appropriate processing and marketing interventions, including promotion of safe-to-eat production practices are required, says Dr. Sethumadhavan.
“There are umpteen opportunities for protein rich ready-to- eat and ready-to-cook food products. Chicken meat and eggs assume more significance in this context. Appropriate interventions can create a lot of employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in the poultry-production sector in the State,” says B. Sunil, Professor & Head, Meat Technology unit of KVASU.
