The New Indian Express reports that the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries in the Ministry of Agriculture has written a letter to Chief Secretary in this regard.

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced in his budget speech that NLM with an allocation of '307 crore will be launched in 2013-14 to support poultry, dairy farming and fisheries, which are required for small farmers to sustain in case of a crop failure.

With NLM in place, the poultry sector will receive a boost as several States including Odisha have accorded full agriculture status to the sector.

Odisha will prepare the action plan basing on the experiences of other States which have already formulated a policy for the sector. Uttar Pradesh has gone ahead with a policy to incentivise establishment of layer and broiler parent breeder farms.

Tamil Nadu announced incentives for poultry sector to boost income for the farmers. Official sources said growth rate in poultry sector has been projected at 5-6 per cent by the State Government.

The Centre has requested the State Government to relook into the VAT system and advise the VAT Committee to waive off or reduce VAT on hygienically slaughtered or dressed and packed poultry products.

The Centre feels that the poultry sector is suffering due to the high VAT on processed and packed poultry meat.