GROWTH IN IMPROVED BREED OF FOWL IN INDIA: AN ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL VARIATION
Nita Khandekar. Central Avian Research Institute Izatnagar 243122; India.
Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to examine the growth in stock of poultry- total and by breed. The analysis is based on the Livestock Census of India which gives the breed wise and total poultry data every five years. The study covers a 26-year period from 1966 to 1992. The changes in the improved breeds are analyzed by estimating the: (a) percentage share of improved breed in total fowl and (b) annual growth rate (exponential) of improved breeds vis-à-vis desi. The results show that the percentage share of improved birds has increased nearly four folds form 1966 to 1992. Similarly, the annual growth rate of improved breed has been much faster that the desi breeds. However, there is significant regional variation both in the percentage share and growth rate of improved breed. It is also observed that overtime the growth in the availability of improved breeds has been decelerating.
Keywords: growth, improved, poultry
Introduction
Commercial poultry’s farming have been introduced in India in the early 1950’s with the import of exotic germ plasm. This foundation breeding stock was multiplied and crossed at five regional poultry breeding farms and 24 State government farms. To introduce the modern poultry keeping practices, some 300 poultry extension-cum-demonstration centres were established all over the country. However, poultry farming has been confined to selected pockets of India. Beside, the per capita annual consumption of broiler chicken and of eggs was 620g and 1.833kg2 respectively, in 1999, which is far below the recommended levels. Therefore it becomes imperative to assess the impact of the improved breed in the growth of the sock of fowls. Additionally, to develop future strategy it is also necessary to understand the regional dimension of growth in poultry. In view of this the present study examined the impact of the improved breeds on stock of fowl at all India and state level during 1966-1992.
Material and Methods
The analysis is based on the Livestock Census of India which provides the total and breed wise poultry data every five years. The study covers a 26-year period from 1966 to 1992 (latest census available). The changes in the improved breeds are are analyzed
Results and Discussion
Changes in poultry composition
It is revealed that the percentage share of improved fowl in India has significantly increased from 10 per cent in 1996 to nearly 40 per cent in 1992 which is almost a four fold increase. Among the various types of fowls, however the share of improved hen and chicken has been higher than cock, in all the year (Table 1).
At the regional level significant variation was observed in the percentage share of improved breed of total fowl. The per cent of improved breed was significantly higher than the national average of 34.79 per cent in the states of Haryana (87.25%), Punjab (87.25%), Andra Pradesh (57.16%), Delhi (57.14%) and Himachal Pradesh (54.42%) but, much below the national average in Bihar (2.99%), Orissa (5.825), Kerala (10.89%), Assam (14.80%) and Karnataka (17.76%).
Table 1: Composition of fowls in India
(Percentage)
Year
/Cocks
/Hens
/Chicken
/Total fowl
Desi
/Imp.
/Desi
/Imp.
/Desi
/Imp.
/Desi
/Imp.
1966 / 88.45 / 11.55 / 89.61 / 10.39 / 91.63 / 8.37 / 90.39 / 9.611972 / 84.68 / 15.32 / 78.19 / 21.71 / 86.34 / 13.51 / 82.91 / 17.09
1977 / 83.39 / 16.61 / 69.94 / 30.06 / 85.26 / 14.74 / 78.32 / 21.68
1982 / 85.30 / 14.70 / 67.98 / 32.02 / 84.93 / 15.07 / 77.19 / 22.81
1987 / 86.71 / 13.29 / 67.30 / 32.70 / 74.97 / 25.03 / 73.12 / 26.88
1992 / 77.73 / 22.27 / 61.54 / 38.46 / 64.32 / 35.68 / 65.21 / 34.79
Imp.=Improved
Growth in the availability of fowls
The improvement in the share of improved breed was made possible due to a considerably higher growth rate as compared to the desi breeds. During all the years under study (i.e. 1966-72, 1972-82 and 1966-92) the annual rate of increase in improved breeds was much higher than the desi breed. For instance the total number of improved variety of birds increase at a per annuam rate of 8.86 per cent as compared to 2.6 per cent for desi during the 26 year period between 1966-92. Between the improved fowl however, the annual rate of increase was relatively higher for hens and chicken as compared to cocks during 1966-92.
Another point to be mentioned is, that the growth rate was higher during 196-72 and lower in 1972-82 and 192-92. In other words, the annual rate of increase has shown a declining trend as we move from sixties to seventies and further to the eighties. The per annum rate between 1966-92 was well above the India average of 2.86 percent in Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Gujrat, but much lower in Delhi, Bihar, Orissa, Megahalaya, West Bangal, Karnataka and Kerala and negative in Delhi and Bihar.
Table 2: Annual growth rate of fowls in India
(Percentage)
Year
/Cocks
/Hens
/Chicken
/Total fowl
Desi / Imp. / Desi / Imp. / Desi / Imp. / Desi / Imp.1966-72 / 0.93 / 3.37 / 0.75 / 15.32 / 0.62 / 9.59 / 0.72 / 11.15
1972-82 / 4.81 / 4.32 / 4.27 / 9.55 / 2.68 / 3.94 / 3.64 / 7.24
1982-92 / 1.52 / 3.48 / 1.04 / 2.13 / 0.97 / 5.36 / 1.10 / 3.37
1966-92 / 3.59 / 6.61 / 2.86 / 9.34 / 2.15 / 9.09 / 2.66 / 8.86
Imp.=Improved
The above data clearly indicates that the strategy of the government of India in promoting the supply of improved breeds has a positive impact, resulting in a noticeable increase of improved breeds since the mid-sixties. But at the same time the disturbing trend is that there has been a deceleration I the growth rate during the seventies and eighties after having achieved a relatively higher growth rate during the sixties. The successive deceleration in the annual growth rate in the stock of improved breeds is a matter of concern and therefore needs to be explained.
The regional analysis shows that the share of the improved birds has been generally higher in the agriculturally advanced states of Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh and lower in the eastern states on India viz., Bihar, Orissa and Tripura. Similarly, The annual growth rate between 1996-92 has been generally higher in Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh and lower I the eastern states o India. This regional pattern indicates that there is an inter-relationship between the growth of improved birds and the level of agricultural development and consequent increase in the income the people.
References
Livestock census of India, 1966-1992. Directorate of economics snd statistics, government of India, Delhi, India
Poultry times of India, 2000. Broiler and egg industry.