The village chicks

The poultry industry in India has risen to being the fourth-largest in the world since independence.

At that time, poultry, the least demanding of all animal husbandry practices in rural areas, was a major contributor towards rural income generation and employment, but the recurrent import of exotic stock that has occurred since, of higher meat weight and egg-yielding capability, has required huge capital, technological, special feed and care to breed, taking it out of the hands of rural farmers.

Mass production of chicks has allowed poultry in India to grow into a mega-industry worth approximately Rs 6,500 crore, contributing to around 2 per cent of GDP.

But somewhere down the line, village poultry came to a standstill. The village chicken could not compete with the highly-bred industrial bird, and villagers could not provide the elaborate infrastructure it demanded.

The village environment required a coloured bird for camouflage, one that was agile, hardy, and needed minimal care and feed but was still at par with the industrially bred bird. In all, a low input, high output bird.

Successfully pioneering the genetic breeding of poultry in India since 1972, Keggfarms started working on developing a rural specific poultry stock.

According to Vinod Kapur, chairman, Keggfarms, "We had 18 years experience of genetic breeding in India and decided to develop a poultry line that would easily adapt to Indian rural conditions in the early 1990s."

Believing that India should have its own high-yield poultry stock that was at par with the imported bird, Keggfarms, along with Venkateshwara Hatcheries, in a joint venture developed a new bird called Kuroiler "" a mix of the cockerel and broiler chicken.

The scientifically developed Kuroiler, recognised by the Government of India , is a coloured bird, thrives in scavenging conditions and yet has a high meat weight and egg producing capability.

The males can attain a marketable body weight of 1,700 gm in 90 days as compared to the 1,200 gm usually gained by a village chicken in 240 days.

The females have the genetic potential of laying of 180-200 eggs as compared with the 30-40 eggs by a village chicken in a laying period of a year.

"India is the only country in the developing world that has become self-reliant in developing its own genetic stocks," says Kapur.

The network of the Kuroiler reaches the remotest places in the country and works with Keggfarms to breed the birds for egg production in its breeding units in Khandsa, Ludhiana, Hosur (Tamil Nadu), Pantnagar.

Hatching units are located here as well as in Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Ranchi, Kolkata, Siliguri and Kelamangalam. Day-old chicks are sold to the mother units or brooding centres for Rs 7. These are set up in the villages or small towns where the chicks are given formulated feed and vaccine that costs another Rs 8.

Vendors buy month-old chicks from the mother units for Rs 18-22. Their only requirement is a bicycle and a basket.

The villagers buy chicks for Rs 25 each, as per their means, and sell the meat and eggs, earning a supplementary income, with the birds requiring minimal care.

Both mother units and vendors are vocational activities. On a monthly turnover of 1,000 birds, each beneficiary can earn a net income of around Rs 4,000 per month.

The villagers income depends on the amount generated on the sale of the Kuroilers meat and eggs.

According to Kapur, the Kuroiler is being constantly researched to make it better. "We have achieved a production level of 15 lakh chicks per month, where its demand is more than its supply, after much toil."

The Kuroiler is being reared by 7 lakh village households, mainly by women in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Uttaranchal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and parts of the North-east.

Adds Kapur, "Though Keggfarms is a Rs 16 crore company, its beneficiaries have been larger than other poultry units, generating employment opportunities and supplementary income to lakhs."

The Uttaranchal government is promoting the concept with Keggfarms on a turnkey basis with SNK Sammarak, an NGO, and the GB Pant University as associates for project implementation.

Says Shankar Ghosh, chief operating executive, SNK Sammarak, "We have initiated around 64,000 families in reviving backyard poultry."

The department of animal husbandry, dairying and fishery has been implementing a centrally sponsored scheme, 'assistance to state poultry/ duck farms' under the ninth and tenth plans.

N Das, deputy advisor (animal husbandry), Planning Commission, feels, "At present, the success of backyard poultry under NGOs is that there is no problem of marketing the meat and eggs from improved birds under the backyard poultry programme, owing to the low volume of operation. But with the growing population of improved birds, the comparative economic advantage of backyard birds will not sustain itself without a suitable marketing programme in operation." 
 

A clarification

Keggfarms Private Ltd has clarified that Kuroiler is its registered trade mark and no other company is involved in the development of this product. The clarification is in response to a report in the Weekend section of Business Standard on May 21, which stated that Keggfarms along with Venkateshwara Hatcheries had in a joint venture developed a new bird called Kuroiler. We stand corrected.