Agriculture plays a transforming role in the economic growth and development of almost every country. Developing countries, especially India, are usually agriculture dominating economies, where its primary sector contributes a significant portion of the national income to the country. Further, agricultural and allied activities not only provide employment opportunities, directly or indirectly, to the Indian population, but also enable the country to earn foreign exchange, to a considerable extent, through export of different items
(Patel, 1981).
Animal husbandry, forestry, dairy, poultry and fishery are treated as allied activities of agriculture. These are supporting activities to agriculture and rural economy. The demand for the animal protein source is increasing rapidly in developing countries due to its high protein and nutrient content
(Khan 2004 and
Ali 2007). Undoubtedly, poultry industry is one of the fast growing agro-industries in the world. Similarly, it is also one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector in India
(Archaria, 1990). It started from a backyard venture, a mere tool of nutritious food and supplementary income for the family, which has now fully transformed into commercial agro-business generating revenue
(Kumar and Rai, 2006; Raju et al., 2007; Krishna, Erenstein,
Sadashivappa and Vivek 2014). Eggs and meat are those supplementary nutritious food which have low economical value in accordance with their health benefits
(Rajkumar et al., 2021). While the production of agricultural crops has been rising at a rate of 1.5 to 2 per cent per annum and that of eggs as well as broilers has been rising at a rate of 8 to 10 per cent per annum. As a result, India is now the world’s eighteenth largest producer of broilers and fifth largest egg producer
(Mehta et al., 2003).
The industry is concerned with the production of meat (broiler industry) and eggs (layer industry)
(Archaria, 1990). Layers are the chickens reared especially for the production of eggs. Layer farms are meant for the purpose of egg production. The layer birds produce eggs for a number of months up to the age of 20 months or less. Layer birds start production when they attain 22 weeks of age and it rises sharply, reaching a peak at about 32-35 weeks of age. After that, the same declines gradually. When the laying capacity of layer birds deteriorates, they are sold off for the purposes of meat
(Fao, 2013). Broiler birds are a young chicken reared for the purpose of meat production. Broiler birds have 1.5 to 2.0 kilogram’s weight with tender meat, soft, smooth textured and flexible breast. It is also known as “frayer”. In broiler farms, farmers procure one-day-old chicks (broiler); rear up to the age of six weeks and finally dispose in the market.
According to
Fao (2003) the poultry farming as a business venture can be undertaken in five ways as represented in Table 1.
Backyard Poultry Production is regarded as the subsistence level of farming in which birds are reared under free range system and left on natural hatching method to hatch their eggs. The labour involved in backyard poultry production is usually part-time. Farm Flock Production is slightly more specialized than backyard poultry production. Eggs are hatched at a separate location where the hatch and the sexing of the birds are controlled by the poultry farmers.
Commercial poultry farm production
It involves full-time labour and is geared toward producing on a sufficient scale for the sale of both eggs and poultry meat. Specialised techniques of production are used under such farming to maximise the revenues from the poultry products.
Specialized egg production
It consists of separating poultry for meat and egg production. In the egg producing plant, specialized employees oversee specific aspects of egg production. There is specialisation and division of labour in such kind of poultry farming.
Integrated egg production
It is the most advanced farming technique which involves full mechanisation and automation of the egg production cycle including battery egg laying, temperature controls, scientific feeding and mechanised egg collection methods. Such type of farming is undertaken on a large scale. In almost all types of production systems, broiler diets should encompass adequate amount of citric acid and kaolin-garlic mixture for uplifting growth performance, economic aspects and feed conversion efficiency of broiler chickens
(Makofane et al., 2022 and
Sahraoui et al., 2022).
Trends of poultry farming in India
India has vast resource of poultry population, which plays a transforming role in recuperating the socio-economic conditions of rural masses. The livestock census 2019 computed the data on backyard and commercial poultry population. It reveals that the total poultry population was 729.21 million in 2012 and further rose to 851.81 million in 2019. During the period of 2012-2019, the growth rate was 16.81 per cent. The backyard poultry population is 317.07 million in 2019, whereas it was 217.49 million in 2012. Although, the population in absolute terms is more in case of commercial poultry, yet the growth rate showed a tremendous increase in backyard poultry as it is 45.48 per cent. In case of commercial poultry, the population is 511.72 million and it is almost same with a slight increase standing at 534.74 million with an average growth rate of just 4.5 per cent.
The trends of poultry farming varied significantly in different states of India. The Department of Animal Husbandry (2018-19) estimated the total production of poultry in separate states of India and ranked top ten states according to their production share in the country for the year 2018-19. Table 2 demonstrates that Maharashtra stood at first producing 632.32 tonnes of poultry birds. Second place is occupied by Haryana, producing 478.63 tonnes of poultry, followed by West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with their production level around 450 tonnes and share of poultry production around 11 per cent. Uttar Pradesh and Telangana have almost equal share in poultry production
i.
e. nearly 8.5 per cent and in absolute terms 359.44 and 336.33 tonnes respectively. The poultry production was lowest in Kerala, Karnataka and Punjab with an average of 150 tonnes which is almost one- fourth as compared to Maharashtra state. In absolute terms, the share of poultry production of Punjab was least, stood at 125.03 tonnes among all the ten nations. In comparison to Punjab, Kerala performed bit better as the production stood at 178.03 tonnes for the year of 2018-19.
Trends of poultry farming in punjab
Poultry farming, a newly emerged activity is practised by thousands of rural as well as semi-urban people. Fragmentation of land holdings in the rural areas is one of the main reasons because of which poultry farming has attained a special significance in the state of Punjab. There is no such scope for extensive and intensive cultivation. As on one hand, there is ceiling to the existing land area and on the other hand, the production and productivity of food grains, especially of cereals in Punjab have already reached a point of saturation. Because of all this, there is a need for other subsidiary occupations like poultry farming, which can ensure remunerative income to the farmers
(Singh et al., 2008 and
Fao, 2012).
Poultry farming has certain distinctive features that make it an ideal subsidiary occupation, especially for weaker sections of the rural community. In Punjab, the place for poultry is no more in the backyard as some entrepreneurs have not only entered the commercial poultry farming but also have found it highly remunerative
(Reddy and Kumar, 1992). The poultry industry is contributing to the economies in almost all the aspects, whether it’s social, physical or economic. With the advent of globalization, there has been increase in the demand for poultry products both within and outside the nation. Internally, the demand has not only increased in the overall economy rather within state the rate of production among the poultry birds varied significantly. Furthermore, wide variations have been noticed in the volume of poultry birds reared in different districts of Punjab.
Table 3 reveals that out of total 2,50,07,700 number of population in layer farming in 2019-20, 62,99,400 (25 per cent) were chicks
i.
e. up to the period of maximum 18 weeks of age and 1,87,08,300 (75 per cent) were layer birds which are above 18 weeks and up to 72 weeks of age. It was further noticed that S.A.S. Nagar, Ludhiana and Sangrur were the top three districts of Punjab, having highest number of layer population i.e. more than 50 per cent of the total layer birds in the year of 2019-20, whereas S.B.S. Nagar, Mansa and Fazilka were the bottom three districts, having very negligible contribution in the overall layer population
i.
e. only 0.48 per cent. Furthermore, Jalandhar, Ropar, Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts of Punjab were found to be holding a medium share (7.7 per cent) of total layer population in 2019-20.
During the period of study, it was found that usually poultry farmers engaged in layer farming purchases day old chicks from the hatcheries and rears them up to the age of 18 weeks and then shifts them into the layer sheds for egg laying purposes. Almost, all the districts of Punjab followed the same pattern, but the districts; Ferozpur, Fazilka, Mansa, Faridkot, Moga and S.B.S. Nagar were found to be purchasing directly mature birds above 18 weeks of age from the hatcheries and then engage them for egg laying purposes. As far as the number of farms is concerned, Ludhiana, Barnala, S.A.S. Nagar, Sangrur, Ferozpur and Patiala were the districts having more than 50 farms in their areas. In contrast, Mansa, S.B.S. Nagar, Fazilka, Kapurthala and Ropar have least number of farms in their respective districts which stood at less than 10 per district.
Table 4 represents the district wise broiler population in Punjab. In the year 2019-20, overall broiler production was highest in the Hoshiarpur district, followed by Gurdaspur and Ludhiana. These all three districts have the broiler production of above 1 crore
i.
e. 44 per cent of the total production. On the flip side, S.B.S. Nagar, Ferozpur and Fazilka were found to be the lowest three contributing districts in overall broiler production having only 1 per cent share in total production of the year. The districts like Kapurthala, S.A.S. Nagar and Bathinda have the medium concentration of broiler production, on an average 17 lakh birds produced under broiler production which is near to 5 per cent in the total broiler production.
Further, the number of birds in the first quarter of the year as shown in the table also revealed almost same facts in which Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana were the top three districts, having more than 35 lakh, 27 lakh and 18 lakh number of birds respectively. Similarly, bottom three districts were also same as in case of total broiler production over the year. Moreover, the concentration of number of farms in districts of Punjab also witnessed the similar trend in which the farm number was highest in Hoshiarpur (567), followed by Gurdaspur (434), Pathankot (314), Sangrur (245) and Patiala (213), whereas the district such as Ferozpur, Moga, Mansa, Faridkot and Fazilka have lowest number of farms (less than 30).
The government also made efforts to support such type of business ventures by extending loans through nationalised banks under various National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Schemes. One of the primary schemes started by NABARD and Ministry of micro, small and medium scale enterprises in India is Poultry Venture Capital Fund Scheme for supporting farmers and helping to promote poultry farming activity. The scheme helps in strengthening and supporting the poultry industry by providing employment or opportunities in backward areas in India which in turn helps in the economic growth of the country. Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India has four Central Poultry Development Organisations, will serve as single window to meet out all the technical requirements of the poultry farmers of all the regions of India and working for the development of the poultry in India. In spite of the strenuous attempts made by the government, poultry farming is still a risky enterprise being live in nature. With the passage of time, there has been a drastic change witnessed in the cost and returns aspects in poultry products due to volatility in prices. Poultry farmers in India are facing the shortage of feed raw materials, lack of capital for investment, external and internal competition, disease outbreak
etc.
Agriculture plays a transforming role in the economic growth and development of almost every country. Developing countries, especially India, are usually agriculture dominating economies, where its primary sector contributes a significant portion of the national income to the country. Further, agricultural and allied activities not only provide employment opportunities, directly or indirectly, to the Indian population, but also enable the country to earn foreign exchange, to a considerable extent, through export of different items
(Patel, 1981).
Animal husbandry, forestry, dairy, poultry and fishery are treated as allied activities of agriculture. These are supporting activities to agriculture and rural economy. The demand for the animal protein source is increasing rapidly in developing countries due to its high protein and nutrient content
(Khan 2004 and
Ali 2007). Undoubtedly, poultry industry is one of the fast growing agro-industries in the world. Similarly, it is also one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector in India
(Archaria, 1990). It started from a backyard venture, a mere tool of nutritious food and supplementary income for the family, which has now fully transformed into commercial agro-business generating revenue
(Kumar and Rai, 2006; Raju et al., 2007; Krishna, Erenstein,
Sadashivappa and Vivek 2014). Eggs and meat are those supplementary nutritious food which have low economical value in accordance with their health benefits
(Rajkumar et al., 2021). While the production of agricultural crops has been rising at a rate of 1.5 to 2 per cent per annum and that of eggs as well as broilers has been rising at a rate of 8 to 10 per cent per annum. As a result, India is now the world’s eighteenth largest producer of broilers and fifth largest egg producer
(Mehta et al., 2003).
The industry is concerned with the production of meat (broiler industry) and eggs (layer industry)
(Archaria, 1990). Layers are the chickens reared especially for the production of eggs. Layer farms are meant for the purpose of egg production. The layer birds produce eggs for a number of months up to the age of 20 months or less. Layer birds start production when they attain 22 weeks of age and it rises sharply, reaching a peak at about 32-35 weeks of age. After that, the same declines gradually. When the laying capacity of layer birds deteriorates, they are sold off for the purposes of meat
(Fao, 2013). Broiler birds are a young chicken reared for the purpose of meat production. Broiler birds have 1.5 to 2.0 kilogram’s weight with tender meat, soft, smooth textured and flexible breast. It is also known as “frayer”. In broiler farms, farmers procure one-day-old chicks (broiler); rear up to the age of six weeks and finally dispose in the market.
According to
Fao (2003) the poultry farming as a business venture can be undertaken in five ways as represented in Table 1.
Backyard Poultry Production is regarded as the subsistence level of farming in which birds are reared under free range system and left on natural hatching method to hatch their eggs. The labour involved in backyard poultry production is usually part-time. Farm Flock Production is slightly more specialized than backyard poultry production. Eggs are hatched at a separate location where the hatch and the sexing of the birds are controlled by the poultry farmers.
Commercial poultry farm production
It involves full-time labour and is geared toward producing on a sufficient scale for the sale of both eggs and poultry meat. Specialised techniques of production are used under such farming to maximise the revenues from the poultry products.
Specialized egg production
It consists of separating poultry for meat and egg production. In the egg producing plant, specialized employees oversee specific aspects of egg production. There is specialisation and division of labour in such kind of poultry farming.
Integrated egg production
It is the most advanced farming technique which involves full mechanisation and automation of the egg production cycle including battery egg laying, temperature controls, scientific feeding and mechanised egg collection methods. Such type of farming is undertaken on a large scale. In almost all types of production systems, broiler diets should encompass adequate amount of citric acid and kaolin-garlic mixture for uplifting growth performance, economic aspects and feed conversion efficiency of broiler chickens
(Makofane et al., 2022 and
Sahraoui et al., 2022).
Trends of poultry farming in India
India has vast resource of poultry population, which plays a transforming role in recuperating the socio-economic conditions of rural masses. The livestock census 2019 computed the data on backyard and commercial poultry population. It reveals that the total poultry population was 729.21 million in 2012 and further rose to 851.81 million in 2019. During the period of 2012-2019, the growth rate was 16.81 per cent. The backyard poultry population is 317.07 million in 2019, whereas it was 217.49 million in 2012. Although, the population in absolute terms is more in case of commercial poultry, yet the growth rate showed a tremendous increase in backyard poultry as it is 45.48 per cent. In case of commercial poultry, the population is 511.72 million and it is almost same with a slight increase standing at 534.74 million with an average growth rate of just 4.5 per cent.
The trends of poultry farming varied significantly in different states of India. The Department of Animal Husbandry (2018-19) estimated the total production of poultry in separate states of India and ranked top ten states according to their production share in the country for the year 2018-19. Table 2 demonstrates that Maharashtra stood at first producing 632.32 tonnes of poultry birds. Second place is occupied by Haryana, producing 478.63 tonnes of poultry, followed by West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh with their production level around 450 tonnes and share of poultry production around 11 per cent. Uttar Pradesh and Telangana have almost equal share in poultry production
i.
e. nearly 8.5 per cent and in absolute terms 359.44 and 336.33 tonnes respectively. The poultry production was lowest in Kerala, Karnataka and Punjab with an average of 150 tonnes which is almost one- fourth as compared to Maharashtra state. In absolute terms, the share of poultry production of Punjab was least, stood at 125.03 tonnes among all the ten nations. In comparison to Punjab, Kerala performed bit better as the production stood at 178.03 tonnes for the year of 2018-19.
Trends of poultry farming in punjab
Poultry farming, a newly emerged activity is practised by thousands of rural as well as semi-urban people. Fragmentation of land holdings in the rural areas is one of the main reasons because of which poultry farming has attained a special significance in the state of Punjab. There is no such scope for extensive and intensive cultivation. As on one hand, there is ceiling to the existing land area and on the other hand, the production and productivity of food grains, especially of cereals in Punjab have already reached a point of saturation. Because of all this, there is a need for other subsidiary occupations like poultry farming, which can ensure remunerative income to the farmers
(Singh et al., 2008 and
Fao, 2012).
Poultry farming has certain distinctive features that make it an ideal subsidiary occupation, especially for weaker sections of the rural community. In Punjab, the place for poultry is no more in the backyard as some entrepreneurs have not only entered the commercial poultry farming but also have found it highly remunerative
(Reddy and Kumar, 1992). The poultry industry is contributing to the economies in almost all the aspects, whether it’s social, physical or economic. With the advent of globalization, there has been increase in the demand for poultry products both within and outside the nation. Internally, the demand has not only increased in the overall economy rather within state the rate of production among the poultry birds varied significantly. Furthermore, wide variations have been noticed in the volume of poultry birds reared in different districts of Punjab.
Table 3 reveals that out of total 2,50,07,700 number of population in layer farming in 2019-20, 62,99,400 (25 per cent) were chicks
i.
e. up to the period of maximum 18 weeks of age and 1,87,08,300 (75 per cent) were layer birds which are above 18 weeks and up to 72 weeks of age. It was further noticed that S.A.S. Nagar, Ludhiana and Sangrur were the top three districts of Punjab, having highest number of layer population i.e. more than 50 per cent of the total layer birds in the year of 2019-20, whereas S.B.S. Nagar, Mansa and Fazilka were the bottom three districts, having very negligible contribution in the overall layer population
i.
e. only 0.48 per cent. Furthermore, Jalandhar, Ropar, Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts of Punjab were found to be holding a medium share (7.7 per cent) of total layer population in 2019-20.
During the period of study, it was found that usually poultry farmers engaged in layer farming purchases day old chicks from the hatcheries and rears them up to the age of 18 weeks and then shifts them into the layer sheds for egg laying purposes. Almost, all the districts of Punjab followed the same pattern, but the districts; Ferozpur, Fazilka, Mansa, Faridkot, Moga and S.B.S. Nagar were found to be purchasing directly mature birds above 18 weeks of age from the hatcheries and then engage them for egg laying purposes. As far as the number of farms is concerned, Ludhiana, Barnala, S.A.S. Nagar, Sangrur, Ferozpur and Patiala were the districts having more than 50 farms in their areas. In contrast, Mansa, S.B.S. Nagar, Fazilka, Kapurthala and Ropar have least number of farms in their respective districts which stood at less than 10 per district.
Table 4 represents the district wise broiler population in Punjab. In the year 2019-20, overall broiler production was highest in the Hoshiarpur district, followed by Gurdaspur and Ludhiana. These all three districts have the broiler production of above 1 crore
i.
e. 44 per cent of the total production. On the flip side, S.B.S. Nagar, Ferozpur and Fazilka were found to be the lowest three contributing districts in overall broiler production having only 1 per cent share in total production of the year. The districts like Kapurthala, S.A.S. Nagar and Bathinda have the medium concentration of broiler production, on an average 17 lakh birds produced under broiler production which is near to 5 per cent in the total broiler production.
Further, the number of birds in the first quarter of the year as shown in the table also revealed almost same facts in which Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Ludhiana were the top three districts, having more than 35 lakh, 27 lakh and 18 lakh number of birds respectively. Similarly, bottom three districts were also same as in case of total broiler production over the year. Moreover, the concentration of number of farms in districts of Punjab also witnessed the similar trend in which the farm number was highest in Hoshiarpur (567), followed by Gurdaspur (434), Pathankot (314), Sangrur (245) and Patiala (213), whereas the district such as Ferozpur, Moga, Mansa, Faridkot and Fazilka have lowest number of farms (less than 30).
The government also made efforts to support such type of business ventures by extending loans through nationalised banks under various National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Schemes. One of the primary schemes started by NABARD and Ministry of micro, small and medium scale enterprises in India is Poultry Venture Capital Fund Scheme for supporting farmers and helping to promote poultry farming activity. The scheme helps in strengthening and supporting the poultry industry by providing employment or opportunities in backward areas in India which in turn helps in the economic growth of the country. Furthermore, the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India has four Central Poultry Development Organisations, will serve as single window to meet out all the technical requirements of the poultry farmers of all the regions of India and working for the development of the poultry in India. In spite of the strenuous attempts made by the government, poultry farming is still a risky enterprise being live in nature. With the passage of time, there has been a drastic change witnessed in the cost and returns aspects in poultry products due to volatility in prices. Poultry farmers in India are facing the shortage of feed raw materials, lack of capital for investment, external and internal competition, disease outbreak
etc.
