‘Indian poultry losing Rs 7,000 crore due to under-recovery in eggs’
The loss is attributed to the hike in feed prices and lower realisation price for the eggs, according to the Telangana State Poultry Federation.
Hyderabad: Poultry farmers are losing about 75 paise per egg as the retail price is lower than the cost of production. The farmers are also losing about Rs 100 per bird sold due to the same reason. The loss is attributed to the hike in feed prices and lower realisation price for the eggs, according to the Telangana State Poultry Federation, which has demanded for a Poultry Board on the lines of various boards set up in the country.
The Board, according to the federeation, should fix the prices of the eggs and the chicken taking into consideration the input costs and also plan the feed requirements. The poultry industry in the country is pegged at Rs 1.2 lakh crore and is poised to increase in value by 5 to 8% this year. The poultry industry in India produces more than 100 billion eggs and more than six million metric tonne of poultry meat in a year.
“The under recovery on eggs is to the tune of Rs 7,000-7,500 crore every year. The farmers cannot cope with it for long as the demand is not increasing on the expected lines,” said Errabelli Pradeep Kumar Rao, President, TSPF.
The demand has been stagnant forcing the farmers to gulp the losses. Though Government supported programmes like the mid-day meal are resulting in the consumption increasing slightly, the per capita consumption in the country should increase significantly for the farmers to reduce the losses.
In Telangana, there are about four crore layers. These are reared for eggs. They attain a body weight of 1.5–1.8 kg in about 20-22 weeks. Their lifecycle is about 72 weeks. On the other hand, broilers are reared for about 42 days before being sold in the market for meat.
The per capita consumption of eggs in Telangana is about 120 eggs. About three crore eggs are produced daily in the State. About 55 per cent of the production is consumed within the State. The per capita poultry meat consumption in the State is about 8 kg, which is nearly double the national average, said Kasarla Mohan Reddy, General Secretary, TSPF.
Earlier, eggs from Telangana were sent to other States. However, such sales have come down as the respective States too are encouraging the poultry sector with incentives. As a result, egg and meat production are increasing in other States and lowering the demand for Telangana poultry products. There is still scope to export to a few other markets.
Lower demand apart, the sector is fraught with issues relating to theft of birds, eggs, spoilage, perishability and others. Many poultry farmers are not in a position to replace the aging flocks. The industry is also facing problems in aggregating the feedstock. The discarded grain like maize and soy are key components in the feed. The prices of these have increased in recent times and finding the stocks is also becoming an issue, he said.
Telangana Government had earlier released 4 lakh MT maize to the poultry industry to deal with the feed deficit situation. Poultry industry needs more than 30 Million MT. Of this, about 10 Million MT is of maize and remaining 20 Million MT is residue material of food grains, which is not used by humans. To overcome the challenges of availability and procurement of feed material, it is necessary to assess the demand and plan for production of grains accordingly so that grain producers also get a stable price and there will not be a shortage in the market, they said.
