SRINAGAR: The Federation of Chambers of Industries Kashmir (FCIK) has sought Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s intervention for the revival of Jammu and Kashmir’s poultry industry, saying the sector is facing a steady decline in local production and growing dependence on supplies from outside the Union Territory.
In a statement, FCIK said the poultry sector had once moved close to self-sufficiency due to supportive policy measures, including a levy on poultry imports into J&K. According to industry representatives, local production had increased from around 15 per cent of consumption to over 85 per cent during that period.
However, the Federation said the withdrawal of the protective mechanism without an effective alternative had reversed those gains, with local producers now accounting for only 15-20 per cent of poultry consumption in the Union Territory.
FCIK attributed the decline to structural disadvantages faced by local poultry farmers, including dependence on external sources for day-old chicks, feed and other inputs, as well as higher transportation, climatic and mortality-related costs. It said large integrated companies operating outside J&K benefit from economies of scale through their own hatcheries, feed mills, processing facilities and marketing networks.
The Federation expressed concern that many local poultry farmers who had invested in land, sheds and equipment were either shutting down operations or becoming contract rearers for larger companies.
While stating that it was not opposed to contract farming, FCIK called for fair and transparent regulation of such arrangements. It said farmers should be protected from one-sided contractual conditions relating to feed conversion ratios, mortality, delayed placement of chicks, payments and other commercial risks.
The industry body urged the government to constitute a high-powered expert committee headed by the concerned minister and comprising representatives from government departments, the Animal Husbandry Department, Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology-Kashmir (SKUAST-K), FCIK and poultry farmers.
According to FCIK, the proposed committee should prepare a time-bound Poultry Revival and Development Plan for J&K. The plan should examine measures to create a level playing field for local producers, promote development of hatcheries, feed mills, breeder farms and processing facilities within the Union Territory, and strengthen veterinary, biosecurity and food-safety checks on incoming poultry.
The Federation also sought financial restructuring of viable but stressed poultry units and affordable working-capital support for existing entrepreneurs.
Welcoming the government’s plans to expand poultry farming, FCIK said the creation of new units alone would not address the sector’s challenges unless the underlying economic issues affecting existing farms were resolved.
It argued that revival of existing poultry farms and establishment of new units should form part of a single development strategy aimed at rebuilding the entire poultry value chain within Jammu and Kashmir, from chick production and feed manufacturing to farming, processing and marketing.
FCIK has requested the Chief Minister to convene a meeting of stakeholders and set measurable targets for increasing the Union Territory’s share in its own poultry consumption. It maintained that strengthening the local poultry industry would help protect existing investments, generate employment, support entrepreneurship and enhance food security.
