Five to seven per cent of growth in egg-laying birds and 12 to 13 per cent of growth in meat-yielding birds has been projected for this year in the country said P.K. Shukla, Joint Commissioner (Poultry), Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Government of India, here on Thursday.
Speaking to journalists at the annual conference and national symposium of the Indian Poultry Science Association, Dr. Shukla said the projection was the outcome of a preliminary analysis of the census data conducted by the Department. The nation-wide census was conducted in 2007 and the Department was getting data from every State. The census is conducted once in five years, he said.
The Department is also carrying out Avian Influenza Vulnerability Mapping throughout the country. The work began in 2006.
“It is an ongoing work, which is carried out in all the States in the country,” he said. To a question on whether there were any reports of Avian Influenza in the Southern states, Dr. Shukla said so far there have been no complaints in the region.
M.P. Nirmala, Secretary, Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Department, said the leftovers from a poultry farm could be used for making bio-fuel and the poultry waste should be properly disposed of as compost.
The total value of poultry sector in the country is Rs.350 billion, which accounted for 10.5 per cent of the total value of the livestock output and 2.6 per cent of the agricultural sector as a whole, said P. Thangaraju, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University.
More than three million people depend directly or indirectly on this sector for income and employment. The poultry sector was growing at a much faster rate than any other element of the crop and livestock sector, he added.
