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India ranks top in animal and cattle population. The meat and
meat processing industry is still to come up. Some top players in the
meat processing industry like Venkateswara Hatcheries, Godrej Agrovet,
Vista Processed Food, Al Kabeer, Allanasons etc., with modern
state-of-the-art slaughter and processing plants, have changed the
entire scenario, making the industry grow at almost 10%. There is a huge
scope for expanding exports, especially in buffalo and poultry meat,
eggs and dairy products.
There is an urgent need to frame a right strategy for the
development of meat and poultry production in the country this will
certainly bring prosperity to millions of our rural citizens and create
employment in rural India. Having achieved the Green Revolution, the
White Revolution and the Blue Revolution, it a question “can the Pink
Revolution be far behind?” Certainly this will require large investment
in infrastructure, mainly in cold storages, and modern meat processing
plants. Without a strong and dependable cold chain, a vital sector like
meat industry, which is based mostly on perishable products, cannot
survive and grow.
India ranks first in world buffalo population, with 56.5% i.e.
94.1 million of buffalo population and one-sixth of goat population in
the world. India also ranks first in milk production with over 100
million tonnes a year. The country is also fifth in egg production with
over 1.6 million tonnes, while it is ninth in the number of poultry.
Though India tops in meat, milk and eggs production, exports are very
low because of quality considerations.
The export of
sheep and goat meat in terms of quantity is very small. Buffalo meat
export is also not much appreciable due to lack of competitive
advantage. Export is restricted to countries primarily in the Middle
East, with large ethnic Indian population who prefer it. Poultry
products export is also not quite good. According to APEDA, the export
of buffalo meat was 343817.08 tonnes (value Rs 1536.77crore) in 2003-04,
337777.65 tonnes (value Rs 1774.52 crore) in 2004-05 and 459937.63
tonnes (Rs 2629.57 crore) in 2005-06,494111.48 tonner(Rs.3211.70 crore)
in 2006-07. The export of sheep/goat meat was 16820.53 tonnes (Rs 110.39
crore) in 2003-04, 9024.49 tonnes (Rs 81.27 crore) in 2004-05 and
7177.51 tonnes (Rs 80.37 crore) in 2005-06,5481.55 tonnes(Rs.63.05
crore) in 2006-07. The processed meat export was 986.13 tonnes (Rs 7.63
crore) in 2003-04, 1359.7 tonnes (Rs 9.45 crore) in 2004-05 and 256.04
tonnes (value Rs 2.43 crore) in 2005-06. The export of poultry products
was 415228.17 tonnes (Rs 202.40 crore) in 2003-04, 277744.46 tonnes (Rs
160.79 crore) in 2004-05 and 145889 tonnes (Rs 167.58 crore) in 2005-06.In 2003 India had a livestock population of 470 million that included 205 mn cattle and 90 million buffaloes. The country produces about 450 mn broilers and 30 billion eggs annually. Cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goat, pigs and poultry are the types of animals, which are generally used for production of meat. Slaughter rate for cattle as a whole is 20%, for buffaloes it is 41%, pigs 99%, sheep 30% and 40% for goats. The country has 3,600 slaughterhouses, 9 modern abattoirs and 171 meat-processing units licensed under the meat products order
