As India’s poultry farmers tackle twin challenges in rising feed costs and risk of HPAI outbreaks, a recent High Level Meeting of all stakeholders’ holds promise for near future.
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recently hosted a milestone animal health industry roundtable in New Delhi titled “Ensuring feed security and sustainable growth of India’s poultry sector”. Confronting a severe margin squeeze, industry leaders revealed that volatile feed ingredients prices have spiralled as these constitute a staggering 65% to 70% of total poultry production costs.
The primary driver of this crisis is the intensifying competition for raw material inputs such as maize / corn and soymeal. The rising diversion of maize toward ethanol production, coupled with severe seasonal price fluctuations in soybean meal, has severely compressed production margins across the sector. Industry executives warned that these macro-ingredient pressures threaten the affordability of vital protein sources for ordinary consumers.
Regulatory Shift: HPAI Vaccine Imports on the Horizon?
In an unprecedented, potentially positive development for both poultry farmers and national biosecurity, Dr. Naveena B. Maheswarappa, the Animal Husbandry Commissioner at the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), delivered an important announcement at the summit.
“Soon, the Government of India may allow the strategic import of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) vaccines,” Dr. Maheswarappa confirmed.
This policy shift follows intense, multi-year lobbying by the All India Poultry Breeders Association, who have long advocated for vaccination protocols to shield commercial flocks from catastrophic bird flu losses.
While India has previously allowed local production of low-pathogenic (H9N2) vaccines, a transition to allowing HPAI vaccines’ imports marks a definitive restructuring of India’s transboundary disease defence model.
Roadmap to Viksit Bharat 2047
The roundtable coincided with the official release of a critical CII Study Paper: “Poultry sector in India: Contribution to Viksit Bharat Vision,” (also framed around the Viksit Bharat 2047 economic targets).
To safeguard a sector valued at approximately USD 30 billion that anchors 5 million livelihoods, the CII outlined several key structural interventions:
-
Strategic Classification: Formally recognize poultry feed as a “strategic food security use” within national planning frameworks.
-
A National Institution: Establish a dedicated national-level poultry body—akin to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB)—to unify cross-border research, policy coordination, and market stability.
-
Fiscal Relief: Rationalize and lower GST rates on soybean meal, feed additives, and technical poultry equipment to ease immediate farm-gate overheads.
