THE cereal-based diet is deficient both in calories and proteins. An average man requires 70 grams of protein per day and out of it 27.4 grams or about 40 per cent comes from the animal source. Pakistan too, like other developing countries, is facing protein shortage. The per capita daily intake averages 24.6 grams out of which 21 per cent comes from the animal source. To meet the needs, an additional production of 1.5 million large and 3.5 million small animals, and 18 million birds must be raised.

As this number requires a lot of time and money, poultry and eggs seem to be the best alternative for quick source of animal protein. Poultry plays a vital role in solving the food problem.

Few industries have grown as rapidly as this one. Poultry in Pakistan was kept as the backyard business for household needs. According to the 2002-03 statistics, poultry meat production was 372 thousand tons as compared to 355 thousand tons in 2001-002 showing an increase of 4.8 per cent; eggs production was 7,991 million as compared to 7,679 million. Currently this sector shares about 4.8 per cent in the GNP with a workforce of four million.

The poultry industry complains of low economic returns. There is a need to enhance the production efficiency and lower the cost of distribution in marketing. The incidence of diseases, sub-standard and costly feed, lack of technology and trained persons add to the problem of producers.

Poultry management system: An efficient management plays a key role in the profitability of poultry farms. The majority of poultry farmers take interest in all the management activities i.e., 82 per cent respondents prefer to feed their birds themselves, while 94 per cent personally perform all management functions and 55 per cent favour vaccinating the birds themselves.

There are four types of poultry housing depending upon the resources like the land and capital. These are free or extensive system; semi-intensive system; folding unit and intensive (battery and deep litter) system. The Intensive Housing System is prevalent in the study area due to the shortage of land and none of farmers are found to have adopted the battery system.

When day-old chicks arrive on commercial farms they are small and delicate. The chicks can survive for 24 hours without feed because of the nutrients provided by the yolk, which they absorb prior to hatching. Their small size means they have little body reserves to live for long without feed and water. They may also become chilled very quickly if heat is not provided. Lamps, fresh feed and water should be provided immediately to reduce the deaths. With the maturity of birds, their feed requirements also increase while coal is used in winters to keep them warm.

Feeders and water containers should be placed at a height where these are accessible but safe from contamination. The breeding companies normally provide these guidelines.

Light and photoperiod are carefully controlled. Birds, at the arrival should be placed in a brightly lit room to allow them to find feed and water. After sometime, the light intensity should be reduced. The length of light per day is important for the rate of growth and development. Long simulated day lengths will encourage birds to eat more and they will develop at rapid pace.

Photo period length is usually limited to slow growth during early development to avoid bone deformities and weak legs. Meat producing birds may be exposed to long photo period lengths as they reach the end of their producing cycle to encourage rapid weight gains. Majority of farmers use sheds that are covered from all sides by a grill. They can control the light by covering the grill with the jute cloth.

For meat producing birds three types of rations are used; starter, grower and finisher. The feed chosen depends on the bird’s age and the stage of production. Each diet is carefully formulated to meet the requirement of protein, energy, minerals and vitamins.

There are three feed types including mash, pellets and crumbles. A mash diet is made from grains that are finely ground and mixed with other ingredients including synthetic amino acids, minerals and vitamins. Because of the fine texture of mash diets, birds may eat slower and may take longer to rise when compared to other types of feeds.

The pellet is a mashed diet compressed to form small pellets which are easy to swallow and quick to eat. This diet is easily consumed by the mature birds but it could be too large for young birds. A crumble diet is made from a pellet diet that has been broken into smaller pieces. They are usually used for young birds as these are easy to eat.

Since feed is the single cost factor in broiler production, so the rate at which the feed is converted into poultry meat is an important efficiency measure. Many factors affect feed utilization, temperature, genetic potential, and nutritional adequacy in diets. In sampled area, farmers use only two types of feed for broiler, starter and grower.

There should always be ample supply of water and the day-old chicks should be provided drinking water with a lower temperature than that of the room in clean containers to check the spread of disease from bird to bird. Birds drink about two litres for one kg feed at 700F. At the raise of each degree to 750F, they will drink about four per cent more. The ratio of feed and water is 1:2. But this rises to nearly 1:4 or more if temperature exceeds 950F.

Three main breeds Huppert, Starbrow, Arbreaker are reared in the study area. Farmers are not found conscious about the breed as they do not know much about this. Though, suppliers are aware of breeds but ignorant of the ratio of such birds.

Variable costs: Variable costs in the study include cost of chicks and its feed, electricity charges, permanent labour, vaccination, lime and medicine expenses.

The table shows that the incurred costs came to Rs54,080 for 1000 birds and Rs31.67 per kg spent on poultry feed. Total variable cost for 1,000 birds is Rs76,838 in summer, and Rs78,995 in winter because of the added cost of coal. Total variable cost per kg live bird comes to Rs45 in summer and Rs46 in winter.

Poultry production varies from farm to farm. It depends on the number of birds, rate of mortality, quality of feed and ratio of pure breed supplied. It is estimated that the total production of a standard poultry farm having 1,000 birds with the mortality rate of 11 per cent was 1,709kg approximately. The average live weight of a bird is 1,900 grams.

There are price variations in poultry market and in day-old chick. The price of day-old chick ranges from Rs12 to Rs19 which is high in winter. The main reason is that in winter broiler farming is at peak and due to increase in the demand of day-old chicks, the prices also rise. The harsh climate in summers depresses poultry farming.

Likewise, the price of poultry birds also varies. The sale price of producer ranges from Rs38 to Rs54 per kg in summers and Rs39 to Rs57 in winters. (table. 2). The average sale price in summer is Rs.46/kg and in winter it comes to Rs49/kg.

The object of the study was to examine the existing production and marketing system of poultry broiler in Sindh. Investigation is based on the data collected from Thatta.

Findings reveal that the majority of respondents are educated while only 20 per cent are illiterate. They are experienced and aware of the knowledge of new and improved technologies.

Recommendations: Due to the non-availability of proper marketing system, producers face a lot of problems for which they demand establishment of a poultry market. Producers could not fix the sale price of their produce as per production cost. It is also observed that due to price fixation on daily basis, they face problems. It is recommended that poultry sale price should be fixed fortnightly or weekly.

Lack of finance is also a barrier in the promotion of this industry. Farmers purchase chick and feed on credit which makes it mandatory on them to pay extra. They should be facilitated by institutional credit by the ZBTL or other institutions on low interest rates.

The poultry department should properly support and guide the farmers. In case of disease these farmers are at the disposal of veterinary medicine dealers who often provide irrelevant and expired vaccines which at times inflict heavy losses.

It is a common complain that the poultry medicines available in the market are inferior. In remote areas, especially in villages, proper poultry medicines are not available.

The department should ensure the availability of poultry medicines. They should provide training to farmers on vaccination and also provide these vaccines at nominal charges with technical guidance. Properly equipped laboratories are needed at the district level.