In his keynote address during the Knowledge Day held at Poultry India 2017, B Soundararajan said: “[A] strong focus on improving efficiency and quality is critical for the next wave of growth for India’s livestock industry. India’s poultry industry is one of the most efficient globally and is a well-recognised contributor towards the nation’s food and nutrition security, employment and, most importantly, poverty alleviation.”
He explained how important the poultry industry was to the country. “It is the source of livelihood for millions of farmers mainly, smallholders and is the foundation of rural India’s prosperity. India’s poultry industry has been growing at over 8% annually in the last few years and I am optimistic about the growth accelerating in the near future. Apparently, next five to 10 years are extremely critical for the sector to maintain its growth and strengthen its competitiveness.”
‘Exciting economic transformation’
Soundararajan said that in fast-growing developing economies like India, south-east Asia and parts of Africa, demand for protein is increasing and consumers’ preference and food consumption patterns are evolving.
“As India is going through exciting demographic and economic transformation, consumers increasingly seek better health through food. They are getting more demanding and their preferences are changing much faster than the previous generations. Issues such as food safety and quality, judicious use of inputs such as antibiotics and adoption of best practices are, nowadays, more important for them and the industry must do more to not only meet but exceed those expectations. Consumption of processed foods including dairy products and meat is bound to go up significantly as currently, only about 3%-5% of the chicken meat consumed in India is processed. India’s dynamic meat sector is up for the challenge, being one of the highly efficient producers of meat, milk and eggs in the world.”
Soundararajan also urged that more be done to help those in need. In his speech, he highlighted that India was ranked 100 out of 119 in the recent Global Hunger Index (GHI) report from the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). It revealed that one-fifth of the children in the country under the age of five are underweight and at least a third of the children are stunted.
“Not just in the financial ratings, we must also look at the ’AAA’s of food’- i.e. availability, accessibility and affordability,” he said. “The country needs a renewed focus on enhancing agricultural productivity, food safety and quality. All inefficiencies and roadblocks in the food value chain that stand between the poor, hungry and malnourished population and its due share of safe and nutritious food are to be removed with a great sense of urgency.”