Workshop on Small-Holder Poultry Rearing: A Sustainable Livelihood Opportunity for the Rural Poor: A Report

The South Asia Pro Poor Livestock Policy Programme (SAPPLPP), Professional Assistance for Development Action (PRADAN) and the National Small-holder Poultry Development Trust (NSPDT) jointly convened a workshop on ‘Small- Holder Poultry Rearing: A Sustainable Livelihood Opportunity for the Rural Poor’ in New Delhi on 28 December 2010. A report on the workshop.

Background

T he workshop was designed with the objective of building awareness about the immense potential of poultry rearing as a viable income earning opportunity for the rural poor, identifying opportunities that the poultry sector presents and planning what needs to be done to enable small-holders to participate in and benefit from an expanding poultry market. Over 80 participants from government programmes and research institutions, NGOs and donor agencies attended the day-long workshop, which was inaugurated by Dr. Amarjeet Singh Nanda, Animal Husbandry Commissioner, Government of India. Dr. Nanda delivered the keynote address.

The poultry sector in India can be broadly categorized into the organized and the unorganized sub-sectors. Small and medium farmers are increasingly under contract farming arrangements with large integrators, primarily for broiler rearing. The needs of both the sub-sectors are very different. There is also an emerging, but marginal sub-sector, moving from the unorganized to the organized. As per the Livestock Census (2007), there are 648 million poultry birds in the country, of which 45 per cent (294 million) comprise birds raised at the household level, under backyard poultry production systems. Approximately 77 per cent of the egg production is from improved poultry and the remaining 23 per cent is from desi indigenous birds.