Poultry expo focuses on tech trends

Integration, automation, technology upgradation and tapping of export markets are the buzzwords at the Poultry India 2007, the first and perhaps the largest-ever national exhibition by the Indian poultry industry, which began here on Friday.

While contract farming has emerged as a major trend in poultry rearing, thanks to periodical crises faced by the industry, especially last year's bird flu threat, this integration, in turn, is apparently pushing forward the automation and technology upgradation aimed at not only keeping the costs low but also attaining standards that open up export markets to Indian poultry products.

"We are seeing automation in place of manual mode of doing things here for the first time, like automatic egg collector and machine-supported vaccination. These are new to the Indian poultry industry," D Ram Reddy, president, Poultry Breeders Association (Andhra Pradesh), told Business Standard.

About 90 companies, almost a quarter of them from outside India, including Brazil, US, Israel and China, have set up stalls with their products and technology while delegates from the neighbouring countries, including West Asia, are taking part in the three-day event, which also features seminars on various relevant issues.

"We are expecting more than 20,000 visitors in these three days," Anil S Dhumal, president of the Indian Poultry Equipment Manufacturers Association, which has partnered various stakeholders including poultry associations to organise the event, said.

Speaking on the response from the exhibitors, he said it was natural for companies from across the globe to come to where the business is available.

According to him, the Rs 40,000-crore (approximately) Indian poultry industry is growing at 15 per cent year-on-year and is set to double in size in the next five years.

Integration, a major shift which has been happening in the poultry rearing activity, is good for farmers as they are assured of minimum return without worrying about investment and other inputs, he said.

Under contract farming, the companies will provide all the inputs, including the chicks apart from buying them back by paying growing charges to farmers. About 1 lakh of over 5 lakh Indian poultry farmers, mostly from the South, are estimated to have become part of this contract poultry farming.

Contract farming had now reached to almost 75 per cent of the total poultry farming activity in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, according to Dhumal. These states, along with Maharashtra, constitute over 60 per cent of the country's total poultry activity.

"Almost 60 per cent of the poultry farmers had stopped buying chicks from us on account of this contract farming, which made us also enter contract farming," D Ram Reddy, managing director of Sneha Farms Private Limited and president of poultry breeders body, said.

According to state animal husbandry minister Mandali Buddha Prasad, Andhra Pradesh currently produces one-third of the country's eggs, namely 55 million eggs per day besides 200 million broiler chicken and 2.4 million layers.