May 10, 2012
India's feed prices hurt local poultry sector
A severe crisis due to abnormally high prices of corn and soy is harming the poultry sector in the Indian state of Hyderabad.
Over 25,000 small and marginal farmers and over 20 lakh employees in the state are dependent on the poultry industry.
The industry is now seeking government intervention to bring down the prices of ingredients that go into making of the feed. Representatives of AP Poultry Federation recently met with Union minister for agriculture, Sharad Pawar and chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and urged them to take steps to bring down the prices of soy, the main feed for broilers. "The price of soya bean was INR18,000 (US$337.4) a tonne till 45 days ago but shot up to INR32,000 (US$600) suddenly, making it unaffordable for the poultry industry,'' said D Sudhakar, president of AP Poultry Federation.
Sudhakar said the industry had been reeling under the high costs of feed ingredients, mainly corn and soy, for the past two years and urged the government to bring the feed prices down to rescue poultry farmers. He said 11 million tonnes of soy and 22 million tonnes of corn were produced in the country last year though four million tonnes of soy and corn was adequate for the poultry industry. It has also been claimed that a major part of the soy crop was being exported to Iran, creating scarcity in the domestic sector.