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Poultry farmers plea to waive ST on feed

Our Bureau

VIJAYAWADA, March 7

POULTRY farmers and traders here have appealed to the Andhra Pradesh Government to waive the recently-imposed sales tax on poultry feed and feed supplements, as it would adversely affect the fast-growing sector.

A resolution to this effect adopted at the Broiler Farmers and Traders' Association here urged the State Government to act immediately on the issue.

Dr. K. Somi Reddy, Executive Director of Srinivasa Hatcheries, said the sales tax of four per cent would further push up feed prices and the cost of production. For the past two years, the prices of most of the feed ingredients and supplements had been r uling high and farmers were facing difficulties. He said the State Government had imposed a four per cent ST on dressed chicken as well.

He said the poultry sector would have to face challenges, once the restrictions on the import of poultry products were removed from April, 2001, and there was the likelihood of dumping from abroad. He added that the farmers and the trade would have to ge ar up for the challenge.

Mr. Harbans Singh, Managing Director of Singh Poultry, Hyderabad, said the broiler as well as layer segments were registering growth, but the immediate future for the processing units was not all that bright.

Mr. Singh said a processing unit and 25 shops in the twin cities had been incurring losses. However, he said a turnaround was likely in a year or so, as he was banking on value-added products. He added that the processing units would have to rely mainly on value-added products and exports to achieve profitability.

Dr. Nageswara Rao, convener of the association, said an all-India Broiler Farmers' Council should be set up along the lines of the National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC) to deal with the problems faced by farmers and the trade, especially in rate de claration.

Dr. V.S. Kumar, Managing Director of Andhra Pradesh Hatcheries, stressed the importance of scientific poultry farming and strict bio-security measures in the farms. He advised farmers to follow the all-in, all-out system (stocking and removing all the bi rds at a time) in the farms to control diseases and curb mortality rates.

Dr. C. Jagapathi Rao, Managing Director of Srinivasa Hatcheries, said farmers should be encouraged to grow maize, soyabean and other protein crops on a large scale to bring down the feed costs and the cost of production in the poultry sector.