Poultry is one of the fastest growing segments of the agricultural sector in India today. While the production of agricultural crops has been rising at a rate of 1.5 to 2 percent per annum, that of eggs and broilers has been rising at a rate of 8 to 10 percent per annum. As a result, India is now the world’s fifth largest egg producer and the eighteenth largest producer of broilers. Driving this expansion are a combination of factors – growth in per capita income, a growing urban population and falling real poultry prices.
In the context of this emerging scenario, questions are being raised about the impact of the scaling up of production-through structural factors, externalities and policies-on small-scale producers.
- Do the transaction costs, policy distortion and environment externalities place the small-scale producer at a disadvantage?
- Why do some poultry farms have higher income than others?
- Do large farms earn more profit per unit of output than small ones?
- What explains the differentials in profitability?
Improving operational efficiency from “Farm to Fork” is the main challenge faced by the industry. There are issues in:
- Farms (Grand Parents, Parents, Broilers, Breeders)
- Processing plant
- Support system (Fleet Management, Supply chain management, Stores, Lab, HR, Accounts)
Hatchery – Reduction in egg damages, Improvement in Hatchability, Maximize equipment’s reliability, Improvement in cleaning & hygiene (Bio Security), Optimization of raw material and other inventories, Improvement in on time error free deliveries of Day Old Chicks, Improvement in capabilities and discipline of employee (Performance Management System)
Farm – Effective Bio Security System, Reduction in Mortality, Improved FCR (Feed Consumption Ratio), Effective management of feed and water, Maximize equipment’s reliability, Improvement in Houses maintainability, Improvement in Cropping process, Improvement in capabilities and discipline of employee (Performance Management System)
Processing Plant – Improvement in On Time In Full Error Free deliveries, Improvement in End to End Flow (Birds receiving to Dispatch), Maximize equipment’s reliability, Inventories (Raw material and Finished Goods) Optimization, Improvement in capabilities and discipline of employee (Performance Management System)
Workshop – Improvement in MTTR (Mean Time To Repair) & MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure), Improvement in logistics system (Farm to Hatchery, Farm to Processing plant, Hatchery to Customers, Processing plant to Customers, Suppliers to Farm, Hatchery and processing plant), Optimize spares and other inventory levels, Setting up various cost monitoring, analysis and action system, World class workshop- 5S & Visual management, Improvement in capabilities and discipline of employee (Performance Management System)
Other Areas – Store, Lab, HR, Admin, Accounts, Marketing & Sales – Lean principles, Policy Deployment