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Are we about to see cracks in South India’s hegemony of the poultry industry? Currently, the five Southern States contribute over 50 per cent of the country’s total poultry production.
But with Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha egging on production in their States with big incentives, the South could face serious competition.
Chicken Politics
“The local State governments are promoting the poultry industry by giving incentives and subsidies. And as States like Madhya Pradesh and Bihar are good in soya and maize, the two key feed components for the birds, the local industry is booming,” Subba Raju, an industry veteran, told businessline.
He says demand from many northern and eastern States is coming down. “The sharp increase in transport costs and raw material is making us (the South) less competitive,” he adds.
According to the Union Ministry of Commerce data, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala and Karnataka together produced 15.51 lakh tonnes of poultry products out of a total of 36.23 lakh tonnes in the country in 2018-19.
That picture could change though. Take the example of West Bengal, where the import of eggs has gone down dramatically over the last 10 years. The State, which used to get 80 per cent of its total egg supply from the South in 2012, reduced it to just 25 per cent in 2023.
Well-laid plans
This was possible as the State government hatched an excellent plan to build capacities and drive self-sufficiency in poultry production.
West Bengal consumes about 4.30 crore eggs per day. Of this, only about 80-100 lakh eggs are being imported from the South. “In egg production, the growth rate in West Bengal is very high. The State achieved the highest growth in the country this year. The government is committed to making the State self-sufficient in egg production by March 31, 2025,” West Bengal Poultry Federation General Secretary Madan Mohan Maity said.
Uttar Pradesh too has well-laid plans for the poultry sector. It has announced it will use agtech in a big way, provide better market linkages, reduce wastage, improve cold storage infrastructure and ensure better supply to become a $1- trillion economy by 2028.
Suresh Rayudu Chitturi, who is the President of the International Egg Commission and Managing Director of Srinivasa Farms, admits that there is an increase in the production of poultry products in the North and East.
Maybe it’s time for the South not to put all its eggs in one basket. Chitturi admits, “What we should do is to look at the export opportunity, particularly to countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and the Gulf. We need to improve the quality of our eggs and chicken to tap that opportunity.”
(With inputs from Mithun Dasgupta in Kolkata)
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