PALAKKAD: The government wants traders to sell chicken meat at Rs 87 per kg. But with poultry farms in Tamil Nadu controlling the market and Kerala hatcheries unable to provide chicken hatchlings, the traders say they are helpless.
The basic hurdle preventing Kerala from achieving self-sufficiency in chicken production is its inability to research and develop parent stocks and mother birds.
“In the wake of the implementation of GST, an alternative before Kerala is to develop the parent stock by either securing a tie-up with Indian corporate bodies or foreign partners and opening poultry feed production divisions,” said B Ajith Babu of the College of Avian Sciences and Management, Thiruvazhamkunnu.
Sample this: The Economics and Statistics Department, in its 2017 report based on checkpost arrivals, has said Kerala daily consumes five lakh broiler birds (1.5 crore birds per month) and 1.5 crore eggs. Of this, close to 70 per cent of birds and one crore eggs are brought from Tamil Nadu daily. The need for parent stock arises as the broiler birds transported to Kerala do not hatch.
Sadly, the Kerala State Poultry Development Corporation (Kepco), the 14 poultry farms under the Animal Husbandry Department, 12 hatcheries and the two universities dealing in poultry research - at Mannuthy and Pookode in Wayanad - are still taking baby steps in this direction, said former deputy director of the Animal Husbandry Department N Shudhodhanan.
“Kepco has a tie-up with Venky’s to produce breeder stock of 10,000 chicks per day. This totals around three lakh eggs and 2.75 lakh chicks a month. The agreement with Venky’s requires annual renewal. Still, this production of breeder stock constitutes a negligible three per cent of Kerala’s needs. The production cost at Kepco is Rs 13/chick. If it is sold for Rs 20-22, there will be reasonable profit,” said a former officer of Kepco.
Tamil Nadu-based corporates like Venky’s and Suguna Poultry Farm have their own research and development wings and have technical collaboration - with ISA Babcock, USA, and with Lohmann TZ, Germany, respectively - for breeding layer parent chicks. Suguna also imports grandparent chicks from Aviagen in UK. These firms are the ones tapping into the Kerala market, said an officer.
“With continuous research, the technical associates have developed a parent stock through artificial combination of genes and have achieved an enviable feed conversion efficiency. They have brought down the time lag to convert four kg of feed into a two-kg broiler bird from 56 days to 38 days,” said Shudhodhanan.
If the Kerala PSUs start providing mother birds, the price of chicken can be brought down said Jiji Madathil, senior vice-president of Poultry Farmers’ Coordination Committee.
“A chick when it hatches will weigh 30 gm. It is transported to Kerala and sold to poultry farmers here. Last week, the prices ruled between Rs 36 and Rs 49 per chick. Before Ramzan, the prices touched Rs 53 for a newly-hatched chick. Farmers purchasing chick at Rs 49 needs to provide three kg of feed to fatten it to a two-kg bird. The feed costs Rs 25/kg. So, it is the cost of chicks and feed which push the prices of retail chicken to Rs 140/ kg in the Kerala market,” said Jiji Madathil.
“Prior to GST, farmers paid 14.5 per cent tax on chicks having a floor rate of Rs 35 per broiler chick and Rs 45 for Girirajan chick. With the tax withdrawn, the chicks can be supplied by Kepco or the Animal Husbandry Department hatcheries for less than Rs 20 per chick. If this happens, the prices of live chicken could dip beyond what the Finance Minister said,” said Jiji.
“The neighbouring states enjoy a monopoly on poultry feed production. The feed mill of Kerala Veterinary and Animal Science University, Mannuthy, is running at full capacity.
“The production of feed with growth ingredients can be undertaken by the state PSU Kerala Feeds factory in Irinjalakuda, a large Kepco plant at Mala which is lying idle and the feed divisions of Milma,” said Ajith Babu.