KRISHNAGIRI: India's domestic consumption of meat products remains far low against the recommendations of the Indian Council of medical research (ICMR) though the country ranks third and fourth place in the world in terms of egg and chicken meat production, respectively.
This was highlighted in the one-day workshop titled "Strategies to augment the potential and opportunities on export of poultry egg and meat". The event was held on Thursday in the 'college of poultry production and management (CPPM)-Hosur' and run by the Tamil Nadu veterinary and animal science university.
The workshop for the people already in the poultry industry was inaugurated by the district collector Dr S Prabhakar; the souvenir was released by the vice-chancellor for the Tamil Nadu veterinary and animal science university Dr C. Balachandaran, CPPM dean Dr K. Mani, Dr P. Shamsudeen and others participated.
“Our country's poultry industry grows at an average of seven per cent to eight per cent and we are placed in the fourth place in chicken meat production and in terms of egg India ranks third place in the world,” Balachandaran said.
He added, "per capita consumption in India is far low against the recommendations of ICMR. The council recommended consuming 10.5 kilos of poultry meat and 180 eggs per annum. Each person consumes just 3.5 kilos of meat and 30 eggs. This needs to be improved."
Other issues affecting the sales in the domestic market for the poultry products were because of the religious customs and beliefs. The belief associated with eating chicken meat is yet another factor affecting the local sales.
Balachandaran, explaining about India's export performance, said, "India faces competition from Brazil, Russia, Ukraine and few other countries having vast production, processing facility and also the raw material costs are lesser compared to us."
Despite all these, India does well in exports of poultry products due to mainly because of native breeds co-existing with commercial breeds and minimum use of antibiotics, he reasoned.
