Every
community in the world is responsible to provide its
residents adequate food and guarantee them freedom from
hunger and malnutrition.
It becomes especially important when about 15-20 per cent of
the world population is still unable to obtain sufficient
food to meet minimum nutritional requirements for a healthy
and productive life.
The current poor nutritional status is due to lack of
sufficient energy and protein in the food. A balanced diet
is essential for good health, vigour and productive capacity
of the people. Protein plays an important role in the
formation of balanced human diet. There are mainly two
origins of proteins, animal and plant.
The human diet in Pakistan is deficient with respect to
proteins of animal origin. At present 66 per cent of the
people are deficient in protein. The requirement of protein
is 102.7 gram per head per day while the available protein
is 69.61 gram per head per day. The gap in requirement of
protein is 33.09 gram. The main source of animal protein is
beef, mutton, milk, poultry meat and eggs.
In developing countries like Pakistan where the population
is growing at a faster rate, the gap in production of food
especially of animal origin is widening year after year.
The animal protein shortage seems still more grave
especially when it is compared with the protein intake of
various developed countries like U.S.A., Canada, Germany,
France, Japan and U.K., where consumption of protein is
79-95 gram per capita per day of which 46-65 gram is protein
of vegetable origin.
The nutrition dilemma demands a special focus to overcome
the existing deficiencies with particular reference to
protein deficiency and availability from animal source.
To overcome the animal protein gap, poultry meat seems to
offer much better prospects. It is capable of providing
protein in terms of quality and can narrow the animal
protein supply gap in minimum possible time as compared to
other sources of animal protein.
Until 1964, poultry production was a cottage industry in
Pakistan. The management and production on modern scientific
lines was not known and disease control measures were also
not sufficient.
In 1964, PIA shaver laid the foundation of commercial
poultry production by introducing new and improved breeds of
layers and broilers and by Lever Brothers with production of
poultry feed on modern lines.
Government on her part, exempted this industry from income
tax and sales tax, allowed export of table eggs, day old
chicks and broiler on subsidized rates. Poultry production
now has emerged as a good substitute of beef and mutton.
This table shows that
poultry is developing in our country in spite of
problems this industry is facing. However, along
with this expansion, the poultry raisers lament the
low economic returns on their products and consumers
in street protest against high cost of poultry which
is due to high marketing margin.
The poultry industry faces problems like the
incidence of diseases, substandard and costly feed
and inefficient marketing system. In all stages of
development, there is a need for improving the
efficiency and lowering the cost of distribution.
An economical marketing system can help the
producers sell their products at reasonable prices
and the consumers to buy their needs at minimum
cost. If we want to survive in post-WTO scenario, we
should give emphasis on quality and price. In a
competitive environment only those products will be
accepted by consumers which are of good quality and
are also available at reasonable price.
Losses occur in case of death of birds due to
diseases and poor handling. Grading is largely
ignored in egg trade because of extra cost required
for grading. Transportation is the most important
component of marketing system. In economic sense,
transportation means the moving of goods from
surplus production areas to deficient areas.
For marketing of eggs and birds, the commission
agents and retailers use various means of
transportation to take produce to the market.
Bicycle, motorcycle, wagons and donkey carts are
being used for transportation.
The higher losses during transportation are due to longer
distance, bumpy roads and lack of modern packing techniques.
Poultry farmers don't get fair returns. They put a lot of effort
in increasing and developing their business but the commission
agents usually get the produce from them at low prices and earn
a lot of profit by selling at a higher price.
Poultry farmers should do their job both as producer as well as
commission agents. So, they can earn more profit out of their
business. To improve the present marketing system of poultry,
following suggestions may be helpful:
• To curtail breakage losses, packing and distribution system
should be modernized
• Government should take immediate steps to improve the roads,
for timely and quickly delivery of produce.
• To enhance economic viability of the poultry industry, the
prices of feed and medicines should be kept within reasonable
limits.
• Poultry coordination boards should be established at federal
as well as provincial level to stabilize and maintain quality
prices.
• Lack of grading at farm level dos not promote the quality of
eggs at a price premium. So practice of grading at producer's
level would be encouraged and price information on the basis of
grades and standards should be regularly collected and
disseminated.
• Inadequate health facilities are one of the major constraints
in poultry production. It is due to viral, bacterial infection
and parasitic infestation. For this, a long run vaccination and
de-worming campaign policy should be started at national level.
• Government should construct veterinary laboratory for drug
residue testing in the poultry products. This will ensure
quality in exported products.
• Steps should be taken to improve sanitary and hygienic
conditions of birds casing processing units.
Courtesy: The DAWN
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