HYDERABAD: India stands third in egg production and fourth in chicken production. Officials who attended the launch of the 12th edition of Poultry India Expo on Wednesday here said India’s broiler chicken production for 2018 is projected to increase by 7.5 per cent to over 4.9 million tonnes and the demand for processed chicken meat is projected to grow between 15 to 20 per cent every year.
The chief guest of the event Animal Husbandry Department joint secretary Dr OP Chaudhary said growth in the poultry sector in India can be attributed to several factors including rising income and a rapidly expanding middle class.
Organisers of Poultry India Expo, 2018 said that the current biggest challenge of the industry is facing is an ongoing case in court seeking a ban on the use of cages to raise birds. Telangana Poultry Breeders Association president Dr G Ranjith Reddy who attended the event said if cage farming was banned, the cost of production of meat and eggs would double and consumers may bear the brunt.
Speaking on the occasion, Indian Poultry Equipment Manufacturers’ Association (IPEMA) president Harish Garware, one of the organisers of the Expo, said, “After bird flu and GST, cage ban is the next biggest threat to the industry.”
“Ill-informed NGOs don’t understand the difference between pets and domesticated animals,” Harish Garware said. He added that the industry was the backbone of agriculture as oil cakes, which are indelible proteins, and grains grown in arid lands are used by the industry.