The Hindu Business Line : Poultry sector looks to blunt maize price rise

Both layer bird rearers and broiler poultry farmers have been cautioned by captains of the poultry sector not to rush through their maize purchases, thereby playing into the hands of maize traders seeking to "artificially bloat" prices. Poultry feed millers catering to the layer and broiler farms have been told to use white jowar or bajra instead of maize to blunt the latter's price rise.

The poultry sector has expressed apprehension that despite a higher maize crop being realised during 2003-04, (production was up by 20 lakh tonnes over 2002-03's 120 lakh tonnes), prices were ruling at a high of Rs 6,500-Rs 6,700 a tonne. Last year, during the April-May period, the price band remained between Rs 5,400 and Rs 5,500, sources said. The expected growth this year for both the layer and broiler sectors apart, there are fears that the State Government's recent decision to restore the supply of eggs in the noon-meal scheme could add to the price pressures on the poultry-feed sector in the form of higher demand for feed-grade grains/cereals and the consequent high prices for grain supplies, such as maize which find increased share in the poultry-feed production.

The industry has launched a vigorous campaign advising integrated poultry farms and feed millers to consider alternatives to maize. This comes in the wake of the "panic" being created in the minds of maize-consuming feed manufacturers on the possible shortfall in the crop this year due to rise in demand.

Alleviating the farmers' fears on the availability of maize and its high prices, the Namakkal-based zonal committee Chairman of the National Egg Coordination Committee, Dr P. Selvaraj, pointed out that there was no need for any price spiral for maize as even after exporting three lakh tonnes this year, 17 lakh tonnes of surplus crop were left for domestic consumption — enough to meet more than last year's demand.

Feed millers can effectively counter the "trade-propelled price jack-up" in the maize market by shifting to white jowar and bajra, without losing either nutritive value or quality of the feed, he added.

Dr Selvaraj claimed that higher bajra production in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and the near 50 per cent rise in jowar production in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh this year would come in handy for the State's poultry farmers and lessen their dependence on maize.

In the last two months, the layer bird sector in the region has stepped up usage of jowar and bhajra in the feed-mix, and an estimated 40,000 tonnes of bhajra have been procured so far.

Dr Selvaraj said efforts were on to source some 20,000 tonnes of white jowar by the Tamil Nadu poultry-feed manufacturers this year as part of measures to find alternatives to maize.