Poultry industry: Realities and prospects

The poultry industry has developed in Bangla-desh. This industry provides various opportunities for increasing the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rate plus equitable distribution through arranging food security as well as ensuring self-employment at a large scale.
It was in 1995 that the poultry industry started in an organised manner in Bangladesh. Poultry is one of the fastest growing and the most promising industries with bright future for the country. The poultry sector is playing a vital role in reduction of poverty, malnutrition and unemployment problems of the country. In just about two decades, the industry has seen exponential growth. Investment in the sector stands at about Taka 200 billion. Its growth rate is about 20 per cent.
There are over a 100 thousand poultry farms, small and large, across the country, eight grand-parent (GP) stock farms, 130 parent stock farms and hatcheries, and 50 or 60 poultry feed mills.  About five million people are involved, directly and indirectly, with the industry, and approximately 50 per cent of them are women.  A large section of the marginalised rural people earns their living through this industry.
Of the 18.6 per cent of the GDP, which comes from the agricultural sector, one-third is from the poultry industry. Credit certainly goes to the private sector entrepreneurs in this sector.  However, lately the poultry industry has been pitched into uncertainty and the question is how long will these entrepreneurs be able to hold on to their success?
Set up in 1996, BRAC Poultry is a pioneering venture that has significantly contributed to the development of the poultry industry in Bangladesh through ensuring supply of quality chicks at a competitive price and providing technical support via a poultry extension programme, whilst creating more income-generating activities for millions of poor people. BRAC identified that local chickens were generally undernourished and that egg production was poor in villages. By providing them the right technology and imparting training, the villagers could be helped in producing better chickens with more meat and more eggs. This in turn means an improved diet and income for the rural poor  and the communities they live in.
Most women of rural landless households are subjected to extreme poverty in Bangladesh. BRAC's poultry development model was exclusively focused on landless women, built on GO-NGO collaboration. The model involved women in a chain of activities as vaccinators, hatchery operators, chicken raisers, feed sellers, producers of hatching eggs and as producers of eggs for the market. Credit as well as marketing was integrated into the model. Seventy per cent of the rural landless women are directly or indirectly involved in poultry rearing activities. BRAC's model, therefore, became successful as traditionally women have some experience in poultry rearing.
BRAC was able to prove that homestead poultry rearing is economically viable. If the landless women are properly trained, supported with credit and other necessary inputs and made to operate under supervision of extension workers of both the government and BRAC, and the government machinery are activated to provide for the delivery of services, the poultry sector could be one of the most productive sectors. BRAC Poultry currently runs six hatcheries that produce day-old chicks (DOCs) and a diagnostic lab that provides consultation on feed, water culture, as well as post- and ante-mortem analysis, which is open to public.
Founded in 1996, Kazi Farms Group is now a large player in the poultry industry in the country. Its market share is 25 per cent of DOCs and 20 per cent of broiler feed. It also runs a world-class broiler GP operation, which was responsible for Bangladesh's first exports of hatching eggs and DOCs in 2004. It has over 50 breeding farms, hatcheries, feed mills and sales offices around the country, doing business under various companies.  
Wheat and maize are important components of poultry feeds.  The demand for these two grains, therefore, is expected to increase with the growth of poultry farms in the country. The poultry sub-sector is crucially important in the context of agricultural growth and the improvement of diets of people in Bangladesh.  The sector is particularly important in that it is a significant source for the supply of protein and nutrition in a household's nutritional intake.  It is an attractive economic activity as well, especially to women and the poorer segment of population.   
One of the major problems of the development of the poultry sub-sector in Bangladesh relates to the lack of sufficient and appropriate feeds. Relevant research suggests that a high priority is given to the improvement of feed supply in the sector, which is expected to help in developing resistance to diseases, on one hand, and production of quality products, on the other.
Poultry farms in Bangladesh are growing fast in recent times.  Following a high population growth, urbanisation and demand elasticity, the demand for poultry products is expected to increase in the future.  Hence, poultry farms are expected to further increase over time.
Wheat and maize together constitute over half of total poultry feeds, of which over 80 per cent is centred on maize and less than 20 per cent on wheat.  Although the use of wheat and maize for livestock and poultry feed is growing rapidly in developing countries in general, this has not yet reached a significant proportion in Bangladesh.  In view of this, the domestic production of maize and wheat has an important role to play in the development of poultry vis-à-vis the agricultural sector in Bangladesh.
Against this background, there exists a large potential, even for export, for the poultry sector in Bangladesh. The demands for both livestock and poultry feeds are currently met from only imports, at seemingly relatively higher costs.  Domestic maize is available only in a particular season of the year, whereas demands for maize by poultry farms exist throughout the year.  Sustainable supplies of maize throughout the year are thus crucial for the development of the poultry sector.
Knowledgeable sources also indicate that the poultry sector has both backward and forward linkage effects to a significant degree. There has been a tremendous growth in poultry farms over the last few years.  Maize forms the major component of poultry feeds.  Why then is the production of maize in the country not picking up?  Maize ranks second to wheat in world cereal production, but in Bangladesh it is still a minor crop in terms of acreage, accounting for only 3 per cent of wheat and 0.2 per cent of rice areas.
From the viewpoint of value, for both human food and livestock feed and its role in agro-ecological balance, maize production is critically important in a country like Bangladesh.  Although it is possible to produce maize throughout the year, maize is currently produced in the country largely in the winter season. Why has maize production not yet gained popularity?  Is it due to lack of motivation?  Is maize production unprofitable and thus cannot substitute for other crops?  Are the poultry farm-owners not sufficiently aware of the quality and supply of domestic maize production?  Is there any need for market intervention?  Why has there not been any growth of feed mills?  Why are the poultry farms not encouraged to use domestic maize as poultry feeds?  Why are a substantial number of farms using ready feeds, which are often of lower quality?  Do the farm-owners need some orientation in feed-mixing technology? These are some of the questions, which deserve study in future research with maize.
Poultry is a substantial contributor to food supply of Bangladesh. Many small and medium farmers are rearing poultry birds in the country. Bangladesh is considered as one of the most appropriate countries in the world for poultry rearing. Development of poultry industry has already generated considerable employment through production and marketing of poultry and poultry-related products. Small improvements in this industry will, in productive and economic terms, give substantial increase to the benefits of the households which may come from poultry. The poultry industry has achieved more than 200 per cent growth in the last five years, mainly because of new technology, use of locally available feed ingredients, breeding, hatching and other inputs.
Having such potentialities for a long time, Bangladesh was not able to prepare its human resources for this industry and combat diseases like bird flu. If Bangladesh has the capability to do so, the human resources and prevention of diseases can contribute much more than what they are doing now. It will generate more protein to meet our domestic needs.
The writer is a retired Professor of Economics, BCS General Education Cadre.
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