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Indian bird-flu 'vultures' urged to take
off
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW
DELHI - The decimation of poultry flocks by avian flu in
Thailand and at least nine other Asian countries may
prove to be the cue for Indian producers, who have been
waiting in the wings to enter the lucrative
international market for chicken meat and eggs.
India already ranks as the world's fourth
largest poultry producer after China, the United States
and Russia. So far, however, its annual production of
1.5 billion birds is geared to cater to the large
domestic market for live birds, rather than for the
export market in processed meat.
But with
Thailand, the world's leading exporter, knocked out of
the market for some time to come, and India's flocks
considered safe from the deadly H5N1 virus that has
claimed 13 human lives across the region already,
inquiries are beginning to stream this way.
India has, so far, remained unscathed by the
bird flu outbreaks that have surfaced in Vietnam,
Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, South Korea and
Taiwan to its east and in Pakistan to the west. Many
millions of birds have been culled in the affected
countries to prevent the virus from spreading.
Thailand, which prides itself on being the
"kitchen of the world", has a 40 percent share of the
US$12 billion international market for processed
chicken. That is, until the avian flu struck a few weeks
ago.
"We are getting inquiries from importers in
countries like Japan and Malaysia," confirmed B
Soundararajan, who runs Suguna Poultry Farms located in
the southern city of Coimbatore. He expressed confidence
that his company could scale up production from 10,000
tonnes of packaged chicken meat to 20,000 tonnes this
year.
Suguna is one of a handful of large,
modern poultry farms across the country that are capable
of exporting meat. It already sells $12 million worth of
chicken meat in the oil-rich countries around the
Persian Gulf. But typically, its domestic sales are
worth $125 million.
According to official
figures, India's recorded production of 1.5 billion
birds annually is valued at around $2 billion, but the
country exports less than $25 million worth in all. A
large amount of poultry is also produced by the informal
sector in rural areas that has never been quantified.
Similarly, India is a world leader in fruits, vegetables
and dairy products, but exports very little because of
poor integration with world markets and poorly developed
post-harvest infrastructure. As a consequence, most food
produced in India is consumed fresh with little value
addition.
But Balram Yadav, who manages Godrej
Agrovet, another major Indian poultry company, is
cautious about India's ability to take advantage of
shortages caused by the avian flu. "The inquiries that
are coming in offer opportunities that could be
developed for the future rather than for immediate
business," he said.
According to Devinder
Sharma, an internationally known food security expert,
India may not be able to take advantage of the sudden
shortage of certifiably safe chicken meat because of
long years of short-sighted government policies that
have kept production inefficient and costs high.
"Right now there is a window of opportunity for
several of the major producers to make an entry into the
international market because of shortages which have
caused a doubling in prices," he said, adding, however,
that this was a temporary phenomenon.
"Indian
agricultural prices have always been uncompetitive and
tend to be higher than global ones because of high taxes
and levies - in fact as India opens up its poultry
industry, its agriculture could actually come under
threat from countries that can produce cheaper," Sharma
said.
On the other hand, according to Sharma,
Indian poultry practices are sound since farmers do not
generally take to short cuts that are a feature in
factory-scale production - using genetically modified
corn as chicken feed and resorting to hormones and
vaccines. "This could be one reason why factory-produced
birds in Thailand and other countries are becoming ever
more susceptible to viruses," Sharma pointed out.
Sharma said that if Indian producers are serious
about cracking the international market they should
emphasize the safety of their birds - raised as they are
on safe feed - rather than "wait like vultures" for
pestilences like the avian bird flu to strike
competitors. He pointed out that India, a predominantly
agricultural country, has also invested in a chain of
fine public-sector laboratories that are known for their
ability to speedily contain livestock epidemics.
Another reason for the new interest among
producers in the international market is the sudden
slump in domestic demand for chicken meat because of a
scare caused by the avian flu surfacing in Pakistan,
which shares a long border with northern India.
"The price of live birds has dropped from 35
rupees [$0.80] per kilogram to around nine rupees a
kilogram and many farmers are in distress because
current prices do not even cover production costs," said
Sabbir Khan, president of the Poultry Federation of
India.
Khan said that the government should have
informed the public that there is no need for any panic
because the country does not import chickens. "Instead
the government has chosen to announce a ban on imports
when there was no need to do that and add to the panic."
According to Khan, the worst hit are farmers who
produce broiler chickens that are perishable and cannot
be kept in stock beyond specified periods.
(Inter Press Service)
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