1.0 Introduction
Broiler industry is one of the profitable agro-industries which can effectively tackle the problems of unemployment and underemployment in the rural areas, particularly of small and marginal farmers. Broiler industry can be adopted under a wide range of climatic conditions and can generally be combined conveniently with other farm enterprises. The land and capital requirements for this enterprise being not large, it ensures a regular flow of income through the marketing of poultry products. In spite of a spectacular growth in the poultry sector during the past two decades, a huge gap exists between availability and requirement of poultry products. An increase in per capita consumption by one egg and 50 grams of poultry meat can create employment for about 26,000 persons per year (Kazi, 2003). The present per capita availability of poultry meat is 1.8 kg against the requirement of 11 kg, as per the National Committee on Human Nutrition in India. Therefore, to meet the domestic requirement, there is a need of about six- time increase in meat production. Increase in population growth, changing life-style, shifting of food habits, rapid urbanization, increased per capita income, awareness about health care, etc. are contributing towards rising demand of poultry products. Thus, the growth potential of this sector is bright due to regular flow of income throughout the year in the rural economy of the Imo Statestate. In India, the production of broilers increased from 1.89 lakh tones in 1989-90 to 23.13 lakh tones in 2009-10, at a compound annual growth rate of 13.21 per cent. In broiler production, India stands 5th in the world with 2.31 million tones of broiler meat, contributing Rs 9000 crore to the national economy.
Poultry farming assumes special significance in the state of Imo State due to integration of Poultry sector, conducive weather condition and available land area. The productivity and production of food grains, particularly of cereals in Imo State have already reached a point of saturation with little scope to increase, resulting in looking for subsidiary occupations like poultry farming. At the same time, due to limited scope of further addition to the net area sown and huge indebtedness, diversification of agriculture through allied activities like poultry farming has acquired added significance for solving the agrarian crisis of the state. Adoption of poultry farming (broilers), by farmers, will not only liberate them from the debt trap but would also meet the growing demand of poultry meat.
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