To lay a golden egg!
WHICH came first, the chicken or the egg? A career in poultry farming may actually help you to answer this age-old conundrum accurately! The poultry industry has of late emerged as an extremely structured and market-oriented venture. Hatcheries have sustained market fluctuations well over a period of time. Appropriate training and experience can set you up as an entrepreneur or as an employee in the poultry industry
What it involves
There are three major types of poultry farms, each catering to a different market segment.
Breeding farms are a particularly high investment and capital-intensive initiative where chickens are hatched and raised for sale.
Broiler farms where chicks are raised for six weeks until they are ready for the table. The initial investment required is lower and the returns quicker.
Layer farms where the chickens are raised for a few months from day one. They are reared for their eggs for a year, after which they are culled / disposed off in the meat market as by-product.
Are you eligible?
Although no specific educational qualifications are laid down for this profession, a basic degree in life sciences or zoology and related subjects can be very helpful. Depending on the course structure many institutions offer short, medium or long-term courses. Many organisations dealing in agricultural extension training, NGOs, farmer training centres and rural agriculture banking institutions are involved in this kind of training activities to promote poultry farming in India.
Graduates in veterinary sciences (B.Vsc. & AH) can also opt for it as a career.
Institutes
A large number of training institutions offer courses in poultry farming.
The Institute of Poultry Management, Pune (IPM) offers a full- fledged programme in the subject. Apart from the regular course, the institute also offers four specialised short courses to meet the immediate requirement of the present and prospective poultry farmers.
The Government Poultry Farm Bari Chattarpur, New Delhi offers a certificate course for which entrepreneurs and workers are eligible.
The Institute of Poultry Management of India Uruli Kanchan, Pune offers an advanced course in poultry management. You need to be a science graduate and the duration of the course is for a year. Every agricultural university in the country offers training courses in poultry management and breeding.
Work could involve menial activities like providing water, maintaining the sheds, collection of eggs to having specialised knowledge of things like artificial insemination, vaccination and research so that high productivity is maintained.
Investment
The initial investment is comparatively higher than for the rest of the agro- businesses. However, it's low maintenance and requires limited space. The work in the initial stages is quite minimal; the critical period is the breeding period (eight weeks).
Prospects
On completion of training one can work in large poultry farms, hatcheries, veterinary hospitals, veterinary pharmaceutical firms, feed production industries, as geneticists and breeding experts, research and diagnostic institutions including feed analytical laboratories, poultry educational institutes and with government cells or in large scale marketing divisions of poultry products. With the high demand for poultry products, be it birds, eggs, feathers, offal, chicks, meat or droppings the return on investment is encouraging enough to persuade banks to provide the capital to the trained poultry specialist!
SRIVIDYA R
srividya.hyd@cnkonline.com
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