The hatcheries in Namakkal Poultry Zone are gearing up for an additional production of 20 lakh egg units per day to meet the demand of the Tamil Nadu Government, which has introduced eggs for five times a week in its ambitious noon meal scheme. The industry has already been supplying 30 lakh eggs per day for it's ‘thrice a week' scheme.

Delighted over the announcement of Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Wednesday , the poultry farmers, who have been demanding assistance for the industry's survival, are now optimistic about its further growth.

The President of the Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers' Association R. Nallathambi says that they were ‘very happy' about the Chief Minister's announcement since it would keep the industry in good health in the days to come. Saying that the government is procuring major portion of stock from Namakkal, he points out that the grain rotting in the godowns across the country could be sold to poultry farmers at a subsidised cost since the price of raw material for feeds have escalated steeply. “The production cost of a single egg today is Rs 2.25,” he points out.

To supply eggs to noon meal centres in different districts of varying distances, the farmers have to charge a minimum of 20 to 25 paise per egg in addition to the day's official base price fixed by National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC). As per the government stipulations, each egg has to weigh 46 grams and should be neither less nor more. The Zone as on today has nearly 4.40 crore birds. To meet the demand, it has to be replenished with an additional 25 lakh chicks.

To augment this additional production, the farmers have started “placing” new chicks to the existing stock. The sources at Namakkal Zone of the NECC say that hatcheries possessing ‘Parents' Stocks' have begun the exercise of producing chicks so that the present gap between the demand and supply in eggs could be bridged.

The Namakkal Egg Zone's total average egg production per day is 2.61 crore eggs of which the bulk consignment of 70 lakh per day goes to Kerala. The export, as eggs and powder, accounts for 35 lakh eggs per day. The rest are for consumption in the local market including 30 lakh eggs for noon meal scheme, as on today.

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