Growth, structure and strength of Indian Poultry Industry: A Review

The transition of Indian poultry production occurred after 1960s. The developments took place in public and private sectors contributed to the growth of poultry farming in India and its transformation into a well-structured industry. The public sector including Agricultural/Veterinary Universities, Indian Council of Agricultural Research institutes (Directorate on Poultry Research and Central Avian Research Institute) and Central Poultry Development Organizations started the poultry expansion programs and momentum gained with the entry of private sector. The import of grandparent/parent stock from foreign countries by the associate and franchise hatcheries for the production of commercial broiler and layer chicks was a major step in the development of commercial poultry in the country. Notwithstanding to the fact of 26% of indigenous fowls in India, only 17% eggs are produced from this sector. There are nearly 34 million broiler parents and 3 million layer parents produced every year. The present poultry feed production of around 25 million tonnes (MT)is expected to grow at an impressive 15% annually. Although India stands at fourth and fifth in world with 105 billion chicken eggs and 4. 19 MT chicken meat respectively, the per capita availabilities are only86 eggs and3.3 kg respectively. The processing industry of egg and poultry meat in India is at nascent stage. The value of exported products from India was mere 4,355 million INR in 2020-21. High price for maize and soya, fluctuation of price or poultry produce, lack of infrastructure facilities for value addition such as poultry processing, warehousing, cold storage and refrigerated transport, and emerging diseases like Avian Influenza are the major threats to the Indian poultry Industry.