I
really enjoyed Holi this year in the academy in Mussoorie. But, when I looked
back
4 years when I was celebrating Holi in Jatara
(M.P.), more sweet memories came to my mind. Then I was working in the Jatara
poultry cooperative and Holi was the festival we always looked forward to. Not
only in Jatara cooperative, all our sister cooperatives in other districts (of
course every single poultry producer and trader) look forward to Holi. The
eagerness is not play with colours, but to do some quick business when the
consumption of chicken almost shoots up to 200% of the normal.
A
common man may start his preparation to celebrate Holi few days before the
festival either by purchasing colours or clothes etc. However, poultry
cooperatives start their preparation at least 45 days before when they start
placing broiler chicks especially for Holi sale. Broiler chicks attain the
weight of 2 kgs in roughly 42 days and hence will be ready for sale during Holi
if they are placed on schedule. No wonder the breeder farms and hatcheries also
make their preparation from even before. It takes 21 days in a hatchery for the
chick to hatch from the parent egg. Hence the hatcheries need to plan their
hatching schedule from before to meet the demand for chicks.
However,
the most exciting aspect is the sale of birds for 3-4 days around Holi. Poultry
traders start stocking the birds beforehand in expectation of good sale. Hence,
lifting of birds from the farms starts at least 4 days before the actual
consumption day. The reason for spurt in consumption is simple i.e. celebration
time marked by consumption of alcohol. In M.P., Bhaidooj is celebrated
on the following day of Holi where brothers and sisters spend time together at
home by visiting others’ houses. This sober and sentimental occasion also helps
increase in sale. Rang panchami is celebrated on the fifth following day of
Holi and those (especially tribals who enjoy festivals in a continuity) who can
afford visit the poultry shop again adding to our joy.
I
recall and cherish my Holi days in Jatara a lot. The cooperative’s poultry
vehicle (the driver and his assistant) has the busiest of times. Me, the
accountant, the marketing assistant were engaged either responding to traders’
phone calls or counting the money. I speak to my boys every year on this
occasion and relive the occasion. They told me that Holi has been exceptionally
good this year. The cooperative sold 25 tons of live poultry birds in 4 days in
comparison to normal sale of 6-7 tons during the same duration. I presented
these figures in the following table.
Particulars
|
2010
|
2012
|
||
Sale
period (normal sale dates are of same week days 2 weeks before)
|
Sale
during 13th-16th Feb
|
Holi
sale during 27th Feb-2nd March
|
Sale
during 22nd-25th Feb
|
Holi
sale during 6th -9th March
|
Live
weight of birds sold
|
4673
Kgs
|
8895
Kgs
|
6638
Kgs
|
24895
Kgs
|
Average
rate realized per kilo live weight
|
73
Rs.
|
80
Rs.
|
70
Rs.
|
74
Rs.
|
As
we can see from the data, normally the consumption roughly doubles (as in 2010).
However, victory of Samajwadi Party in UP elections added to the business
tremendously in 2012. The victory celebrations made sure that the poultry
vehicle did not stop for 3 days continuously supplying birds. Jatara though
located in M.P., is close to U.P. borders and caters to small town markets in
U.P. like Lalitpur, Mauranipur, Panwari, Rath etc. The market becomes a
suppliers’ market and we command the price to some extent and have the liberty
of choosing the trader whom we want to supply.
Similarly,
the sales of the biggest poultry cooperative in M.P., Kesla Poultry Sahakarita
(KPS) have increased by almost 100 % from 26313 Kgs of live weight (during Feb
14th-17th, 2012) to 50557 Kgs (during Holi time 6th-9th
March, 2012). My former colleagues, Dr. Harekrishna Deka and Dr. Mridu Pawan
Hazarika told me that chicks prices’ also shoot up for Holi placement. This
year, the chicks’ price shot up from 15-16 Rs. to 19-20 Rs. for Holi placement.
The All India Broiler Breeders’ Association has also cleverly declared hatch
holiday to create scarcity in the market.
The
bumper consumption of poultry during Holi also repeats itself during Dasara festival,
X-Mas and New Year. However, the most crucial aspect of poultry business is the
ability to continuously produce birds every day. If we are out of the market
even for few days, we may not be able to take advantage of the price
fluctuations. For example, KPS which is likely touch a turnover of 20 crores
during the present year 2011-12 could make an enterprise profit (after
distributing the grower margins to the member producers) of only 5 lakh rupees in
the first 10 months. However, since it continued to produce birds, it made a
handsome margin of almost one crore in the next two months.
The
wonderful performance of the poultry cooperatives in MP reinforces my belief in
poultry as one of the beautiful activities for the rural poor. The annual per
capita availability of poultry meat increased from 0.16 kg per annum in 1961 to
2.96 kg in 2011. However, this is far below the ICMR recommendations of 11 kg
meat per capita per annum. Similarly, the per capita availability of eggs per
annum is merely 51 eggs as opposed to the recommended 180 eggs per annum.
Moreover,
the progress of the broiler industry is well dominated by the southern states
including Maharastra which contribute 60%-70% of the total output. There is a
great need to promote poultry in central and eastern Indian states which are
marked by malnutrition as well as poverty. Poultry can not only create
supplementary income in the hands of the poor, but also address the chronic
protein deficiency in these poor states. The phenomena of eating out in the
cities with more and more quick service restaurants opening up is reflective of
the changing consumption profile of the middle class Indians in the cities. We need
to cash in this opportunity by promoting poultry like agro-industries in the
villages so that they can cater to growing markets in nearby cities and also
create respectable rural livelihoods.
Credits
and References
1. Dr.
HK Deka and Dr. Mridu Pawan Hazarika of MPWPCL (M.P. Women Poultry Producers
Company Limited)
3. ‘Roadmap
for Sustainable Poultry Production during 12th Plan and Beyond’
by Dr. PK Shukla and Sujit Nayak, Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries,
Government of India
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