India Promotes Backyard Poultry Farming to Boost Production
INDIA - In an initiative to popularise poultry farming and boost production of poultry meat, India has asked the state governments, especially Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, to come up with proposals to upscale the Rural Backyard Poultry Development programme under the National Livelihood Mission (NLM), writes Basudev Mahapatra.
23 August 2016
2 minute read
By: Under the proposed programme, 150 birds are to be distributed in a focused manner in five or six villages or a cluster in one block of a district of the State, said a release issued by the agriculture ministry of India.
The major focus of the programme will be to increase entrepreneurial activity in the poultry sector.
On the basis of the review of the ongoing poultry development schemes targeting the small and marginal farmers, state governments were advised to design sustainable projects specifically for this category of farmers.
The Indian government also wants to popularise commercial broilers in rural areas. For this, the government expects that Poultry Federation of India, All India Poultry Breeders Association, National Egg Coordination Committee may consider making proposals with Self Help Groups, Cooperatives and Farmers’ Producers’ Organisations and facilitating direct funding.
Well-coordinated efforts can boost poultry production in the country, officials from the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Fisheries (DADF) believe.
India is a poultry product exporter and it produces 3.7 million tonnes (Mt) of broiler meat annually ranking fifth behind the US (17.3 Mt), Brazil (12.7 Mt), China (13 Mt) and the European Union (10.3 Mt).
