March 4, 2022

An update and overview of India's poultry: Bird flu in Maharashtra under control; backyard poultry still lacks government support

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The poultry industry in Maharashtra, west India, has found itself dealing with bird flu cases and the spread of misinformation in recent times.

The Poultry Farmers and Breeders Association of Maharashtra (which ranks fifth at the national level, having a poultry population of about 74.3 million birds, as per the Livestock Census of 2019) said that bird flu cases have been detected in the Thane district, following the death of around 100 birds at a poultry farm in Shahapur.

According to poultry industry players, the bird flu outbreak in Thane would pose a major challenge to small industry players. In the last two years, the businesses of many small poultry owners have suffered heavily, with several forced to shut down. Only major producers are able to endure the pandemic and cope with price hikes in poultry feed.

Maharashtra's animal husbandry minister said that a large number of people in the state are directly and indirectly involved in the poultry industry. He has also directed the administration to control the spread of bird flu by taking immediate steps at the affected poultry farm in Thane.

Additionally, the Animal Husbandry Department has directed district collectors to report any unusual bird deaths. Poultry owners and hatcheries have been asked to report unusual sickness and mortality.

Meanwhile, India also reported an outbreak of the highly contagious H5N1 bird flu virus on a poultry research farm in the northeastern state of Bihar. The virus killed 787 out of 3,859 birds on the farm in Patna. All remaining birds were slaughtered.

India's poultry sector is broadly divided into two sub-sectors, with one being the highly organised commercial sector that controls about 80% of the total market share. The other sector — the backyard poultry sector — plays a key role in supplementing income and supporting the nutrition of those living in poverty.

It is estimated that small and medium farmers are mostly engaged in contract farming systems under larger integrators and there are around 30 million farmers engaged in backyard poultry, according to the 19th Livestock Census. The domestic commercial poultry sector is flourishing in certain pockets of India while the backyard poultry sector is highly scattered throughout the country.

Both sectors are distinct from each other in terms of their needs.

The commercial poultry industry requires a conducive environment for production. Furthermore, it also needs the support of appropriate policies and interventions in the areas of disease surveillance, vaccine quality control, standardisation and quality control of poultry feed, etc. All these issues are dealt with by various Indian ministries and government agencies.

Compared to the commercial poultry sector, the backyard poultry sector has not gotten as much support. However, through one of the components of “Rural Backyard Poultry Development” under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme for poultry development, assistance has recently been provided for families involved in backyard poultry farming.

The size of India's poultry farms varies significantly from small farms with just 200 birds to large farms with more than 50,000 birds. Most of the poultry farms are simple, open sheds while only a few large poultry integrators have controlled environment housing with automatic feeding and drinking systems. But high capital costs and unreliable power supplies hinder the large-scale adoption of a controlled environment farming model.

Concerning broiler prices, supply-demand situations have generated significant seasonal fluctuations. Prices may rise in summer due to reduced production but decline during most Hindu festivals. Major industry players and associations attempt to support prices by reducing chick placements when demand falls.

Birds' placement depends on feed prices, the status of disease outbreaks, the financial status of farmers and profitability related to the prevailing demand and price of the final product in the market. In India, feed price constitutes around 80% of total production costs.

For the past year, due to extremely high soybean meal prices, open farming has declined. Furthermore, the production cost of 1kg of live broiler is around ₹92-95 (US$1.21-1.25). In the last two years, the industry witnessed a negative growth of 5-6% due to volatile demand and higher feed prices.

As for growth in the broiler segment, this is expected to stay strong due to consumer preference for poultry, increased income levels and changing food habits.

The live market sales of broiler meat still constitute more than 90-95% of the total volume of sales. The processed chicken meat segment comprises only about 5% of total production.

Primary and secondary processing is expected to grow at the rate of 12-20% in the coming decade.

- Dr. Dinesh T. Bhosale