The Hindu Business Line : NECC moots zoning of poultry pockets

Hyderabad, July 27 Dismissing reports of bird flu (avian influenza) from Manipur as a speck of a problem, the National Egg Co-Ordination Committee (NECC) has asked the Government to immediately take up the process of zoning of poultry pockets.

“The Government should zone the poultry pockets across the country and notify the same to the world. This is very important to safeguard the interests of the poultry industry,” a NECC spokesperson said here.

Reacting to reports of bird flu that recalled worst fears of the crisis that hit the industry hard last year, NECC said the Imphal report didn’t pose a major threat.

“It appears that the chicks were supplied by a Government hatchery to the private broiler poultry farm from where the incident was reported,” he said in a press release.

He argued that the poultry industry in India was entirely in the private sector. Less than 0.25 per cent of the poultry population was supplied by the Government hatcheries.

But he wanted the Government to have a mechanism to help the industry in times of distress.“Every country in the world, which exports poultry products, has created separate zones. India, which is as large as a continent, fails to have a zoning policy, despite shocks the industry suffers,” he said.

For one, Tamil Nadu exports eggs worth Rs 500 crore annually. “Though it is hundreds of miles away from Imphal, the State might suffer because of the Imphal report. This is because, we do not have zones. Not just them, poultry farmers and entrepreneurs across the country would suffer,” he lamented.