COMMERCIAL poultry farming in Sindh is set on a course of modernisation to achieve economies of scale and improve productivity as indicated by the pickup in investments in environmental control houses. In fact automation is driving the capital spending.

The number of these centrally control houses has increased over the last five to six years in the province. According to Mohammad Javed Aslam, Chairman, Sindh Zone of Pakistan Poultry Association, around 1,500 such houses have been set up for broiler production compared to around 6,000 in Punjab. Sindh has a share of 40pc in the country’s commercial poultry production.

The establishment of a control house, with 30,000 birds, costs between Rs20-25m, but it decreases recurring and operational expenses.

Commercial production of broiler breed is growing at 7-8pc per annum

In a control house, the rearing duration of each flock is reduced from 45 days to 30 which means saving feed and time. Chicks get controlled environment right from diet, air, drinking water, medicines and are handled by labourers in a sophisticated manner. These birds gain more weight than those kept in open houses.

Commercial farmers get their entire supplies of grandparent (GP) and parent stock (PS) or one-day chick from Punjab. With improved security situation, investment in poultry could pick up. These farms are set up in the outskirts of urban centres.

According to Mr Aslam, commercial production of broiler breed is growing at 7-8pc per annum.

The Sindh Poultry Department also provides birds to communities at the cost of production. These birds are reared in the department’s hatcheries for backyard local breed poultry. The department has set up a control house in Korangi, Karachi, but it has not yet started functioning.

Dr Sikandar Panwhar, deputy director of the department, Hyderabad region, points out that the department provides vaccination services to the backyard poultry farmers. On control houses, he says these are not registered with the department, so it is not possible for him to give their actual number.

According to him, domestic birds’ population of backyard poultry farming is 1.33m in Sindh. He states that feed consumption ratio (FCR) with required dozes of nutritional support helps rear a chick with 2.2kg of live weight as compared to 1.8kg of the one kept in conventional farm.

But Javed Aslam feels the government must announce a loan scheme for automation of smaller poultry farms.

Published in Dawn, Business & Finance weekly, March 28th, 2016