What are your major challenges as chairman of CLFMA of India?

a) The major challenges would be taking up issues on chicken leg imports.
b) Issues on import duties on feed agriculture.
c) Difficulty in clearances of feed agriculture.
d) Availability & prices of raw material.

How does CLFMA help farmers/industry in the country?

CLFMA is providing updated information and education to farmers and its member industries and help them to upgrade their standards. We keep on updating scientific development in this field through various seminars; update them through our news bulletin and newsletters. CLFMA is a platform to resolve the issues related to livestock sector.

Could you throw some light in India’s current feed market?

According to the report of 2011- 2012, the Indian livestock industry continues to grow, albeit at differing rates. The fastest growing segment is the poultry layer industry at 10 per cent annually followed by the broiler industry at eight per cent annually.

The dairy industry continues to be world’s largest and is growing steadily four per cent annually.

The beef (buffalo meat) industry has grown rapidly based on the fast expanding export demand leading India to become the world’s largest beef exporter in 2012.

The fisheries industry is not growing too fast where the stagnation in marine fishing is being compensated by inland fishing growth.

The key growth factors helping the livestock industry are the growing affluence in the population, increasing export and domestic demand and the increasing share of the organised sector in the same.

The key limiting factors are the availability and volatility of inputs, availability of funding, very low value addition and poor infrastructure.

The demand for animal feed is likely to increase by an average of three per cent per annum over the next five years but the demand for feed from the organised sector should exceed the growth of the industries as the organised sector at 15 million tonnes is barely 10 per cent of the total market.

The animal health sector is also growing rapidly with more awareness of preventive and additives in the market. The sector is expected to grow at seven-eight per cent annually over the next five years.

There are issues of antibiotics in animal feed, your comment?

We want a judicious use of antibiotic in animal feed and it should not be used one week before marketing the product.

Do you support ban of antibiotics in animal feed?

If we do not use antibiotics, the farmers will discriminate the use of it. There will be other substitutes in the farms which would hamper and will create problems for consumers.

What are the challenges for your industry today?

a) I will have to popularize CLFMA in the livestock sector as well as other industries.
b) Increase member base
c) There is high expectation among the members I have to cope up with that.

Has the government done enough for your sector?

Yes, we are getting good co-operation and with their help and great support we are prospering.
Eg: The government has reduced import duties in oil seeds.

But I always feel that there is more scope in this sector and the government has to initiate these programmes, such as more scientist researches, the researcher should work for industry base.
As an industry we must spend more on research and development and should take help from the government and they should facilitate such researches.

There are reports that there will be a shortage of animal feed in years to come, your view?

We are taking appropriate measures to create awareness among the industries so that the demand and supply gap would be minimised.

What role CLFMA plays with government in decision making for the livestock sector?

They work hand in hand; CLFMA is a facilitator between the government and the livestock sector.

As the human population is growing, does India have sufficient livestock?

No. We need to produce more taking into consideration regional demand and their habits as well.
The government will need to do extensive work for the promotion of this industry so that sufficient livestock can be there.

Could you tell me more about CLFMA of India?

CLFMA was formed in 1967 with the objective of helping the promotion of overall animal husbandry, including promotion of concept of balanced feeding of animals in accordance with their nutritional requirements for deriving from them maximum output through productivity improvement.

There are number of industries who are members of our organisation, who are from feed industries, feed additive industries, raw materials, breeder and integrators, etc. We are representing the livestock industry.

Providing information and education to the members and farming communities to upgrade their standards and performance level. Our one of objectives is to interface with scientific and other communities as well within and outside country to facilitate application of new scientific development in the industries.

We are providing a forum for the interaction within the Industry to learn and implement best practices amongst its members. CLFMA is a platform to resolve the issues and also to create awareness amongst the member industry by brainstorming on the challenges and opportunities in the livestock sector.