Feed prices harming Indian poultry industry

The poultry industry in the Indian state of Hyderabad is facing a severe crisis because of abnormally high prices of maize and soya bean.

Over 25,000 small and marginal farmers and over 20 lakh employees in the state are dependent on the poultry industry.

The industry is now seeking government intervention to bring down the prices of ingredients that go into making of the feed. Representatives of AP Poultry Federation recently met with Union minister for agriculture, Sharad Pawar and chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and urged them to take steps to bring down the prices of soya bean, the main feed for broilers. “The price of soya bean was Rs 18,000 a tonne till 45 days ago but shot up to Rs 32,000 suddenly, making it unaffordable for the poultry industry,” said D Sudhakar, president of AP Poultry Federation.

Sudhakar said the industry had been reeling under the high costs of feed ingredients, mainly maize and soya bean, for the past two years and urged the government to bring the feed prices down to rescue poultry farmers. He said 11 million tonne of soya bean and 22 million tonnes of maize were produced in the country last year though 4 million tonnes of soya bean and maize was adequate for the poultry industry. It has also beeb claimed that a major part of the soya bean crop was being exported to Iran, creating scarcity in the domestic sector.

Source: IBNLive