August 23, 2011

Nepalese poultry production revenue to increase by 30%

Revenue for poultry production in Nepal is projected at NPR53 billion (US$724 million), a 30% increase covering approximately 4% of the GDP this year, as investments pour in to meet rising demand and consumption.   

Researchers said the investment in poultry has increased by NPR2 billion (US$27.3 million) with the opening of over 5,000 new poultry farms across the country over the year to take the number of total poultry farms at around 18,000.

"New investments are coming in feed, hatchery, egg production and broiler chicken production in new urban areas where demand of poultry products is growing sharply. Production is expected to shoot up by an all-time high rate of 30% this year to cross NPR53 billion (US$724 million) by next 12 months," said Dr. Til Chandra Bhattarai, a poultry researcher and poultry entrepreneur.

Bhattarai said investments worth more than NPR1 billion (US$13.7 million) are in the pipelines for investment for next one year in different parts of the country. With the rising demand for poultry products, existing farms are expanding their operations whereas fresh investment is also increasing in emerging poultry sectors such as Nuwakot, Kavre, Kathmandu, Udaypur, Surkhet, Kohalpur, Hetauda, Baglung, Pokhara, among others. Total investment in this sector is around NPR32 billion (US$437 million) till this year.

With the proliferation of poultry farms in different places, share of Chitwan district - a poultry hub - in total poultry production in the country has gone down to 30% from around 40% a couple of years back.

"We have sufficient prospect for increasing the demand for eggs and chickens in domestic market as our consumption is far below the Asian and Western countries´ level," said Bhattarai, who is also the managing director of Chitwan-basd Pancha Ranta Group - one of the country´s largest poultry producers.

Per capita annual consumption of chicken stands at 3kg in Nepal, well below 9kg and 21kg of average consumption in Asia and western countries respectively. Likewise, per capita egg consumption in Nepal has been recorded at 50 pieces, which is below the 120 pieces of Asian consumption level.