March 24, 2004

 

 

Indian Egg Industry Badly Hit By Bird Flu Crises

 

The Indian egg industry, part of the Rs 29,000 crore poultry sector, is in the midst of a crisis, thanks to the scare generated by bird flu even though no viral strains have been found here.

"Due to the recent scare about avian influenza, many people are reluctant to consume eggs resulting in major losses incurred by the sector", those in the industry say.

"The industry is facing a daily loss of 19-20 crore," Dinesh T Bhosale, General Secretary, Poultry Federation of India, says.

The cost per egg works out to around Rs 1.25 but right now breeders are forced to sell their product at the rate of around 85 paise only.

This has resulted in severe hardship for the 35 lakh people who are directly employed in the egg business, Bhosale says.

"Even though the bird flu scare has not been in the limelight for the last few days, the consumer is still suspicious of the quality of an egg," he says.

"The bird flu scare was created by the media and resulted in unnecessary panic among people," says Shashi Kapur, who is in the business for last 37 years.

No disease can ever be acquired by consuming a cooked or boiled egg because the virus cannot survive a temperature above 60 degree celsius, Kapur claims.

But as no certification is possible in the egg industry, the doubts persist, says A P Sachdev, Chairman, Advisory Committee of the Poultry Federation of India.

"As eggs are a natural product and cannot be artificially tampered with, there is no way one can have any government certification for them," he says.

"Presently, grading for eggs is done on the basis of their weights only," he informs.

The situation is not likely to improve in the coming months, he feels.

"In India, people believe a fallacy that consuming eggs during summers is harmful, even though studies undertaken by Indian Council of Medical Research and National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, have stated that eggs are vital for the growth of children," Sachdev says.

But these are not the only problems confronting the Indian egg industry, which ranks fourth in the world after the US, China and Russia.

"Layers (hens) these days, in fact, are fed a totally vegetarian diet devoid of animal extracts to make them acceptable to vegetarians," says Sanjiv Wadhera, Director, Tagma Agrotech Ltd, which operates a facility on the outskirts of the capital in Gurgaon, says. But yet many don't eat eggs considering them non-vegetarian, he adds.

"We have asked the government to look into this contradiction, but it says it is for the industry to create awareness in this regard," Sachdev says.

Sachdev feels that the government should set up an Egg Board to address all these problems facing the industry.

"If we can have boards for spices, tea and coffee, why not for eggs," he asks.

Besides, an Egg Board with contributions from industry sales could take steps to promote egg consumption in the country which has not risen beyond 38 per person per annum, Sachdev suggests.

"We can market eggs as the cheapest source of protein available to Indians," Sachdev says.

Such an organisation would also assist breeders to go in for automation of their operations and finding new markets for their products, he says.

"The Egg Board can also sustain the breeder during the six-month gestation period which is considerably longer than the six-week period in the case of broiler chickens," he adds.

With the Indian egg industry growing at four to five per cent per annum, traders are now looking overseas in a much bigger way.

Exports of table eggs, mainly to the Middle East, is gathering momentum, Bhosale says.

Figures reveal that exports of shell eggs have increased annually since mid-1990s from around 795,000 tonnes a year to 992,000 tonnes a year and India is now considered to be increasingly active in the international market.

Shipment of dried eggs from India amounted to 1775 tonnes in 2001, considerably more than that from China (1155 tonnes).