Industrial Economist (IE): How is the demand for eggs?
P S MOHAN (PS): There are as many as 1200 small, medium and large farms that house nearly 10 crore birds. They produce about 8 crore eggs per day. The demand for eggs recently has grown so much, most of the large and medium scale farmers are trying to set up more farms. One of the challenge is the availability of lands within the district. So, they are looking for suitable and cheap lands in districts like Ariyalur, Thuraiyur and Theni. Many of us have already purchased lands and are in the process of setting up the farms.
IE: How modernised are the farms?
PS: One of the challenge is labour, so there is a need for mechanising. We have modernised areas such as feed input and egg collection, but there are still many areas that have to be upgraded so as to meet the labour shortage. Some of our farmers have gone to the extent of air conditioning the farm sheds.
IE: How do you foresee the future demand?
PS: Future demand is huge and the industry is gearing up accordingly. But we need more automation to cope with challenges like labour shortage and ensure speedy turn around. Probably, the industry is capable of doubling production in a span of another five years.
IE: There are concerns about excessive antibiotic use in poultry and possible residues in eggs. How do you address these claims?
PS: There were such claims. We are also looking to address them as effectively as we could. We are using medicines of high standards supplied by the likes of Kemin (US), Zeotis (US) Glaxo (UK) and DSMC and by the native manufacturers such as Dabur, India Herbs, Natural Remedies and Zenex.
IE: How can state government support the industry?
PS: There is no cold storage facility and the state government can play a role in setting up the infrastructure. To be future ready, a dedicated and compartmentalised egg promotion zone can be created to motivate and bring all farmers under one single umbrella, where egg processing facilities, cold storage, warehousing, logistics support and a modern marketplace are arranged to upscale productivity, both quantitatively and qualitatively. Also, we need more processing facilities for value addition to bring out different egg-related products that would support and encourage the farmers. On the other hand, giving subsidies and incentives for setting new farms will be a shot in the arm as it will just increase the quantity of farms and not quality.
IE: How is your group’s growth?
PS: As a group, our annual turnover is nearly Rs 650 crore. 95 per cent of it comes from poultry farms, poultry feed manufacturing facilities and national and international poultry medicine distributing businesses.