Bhubaneswar: Odisha is making great progress in egg production with layer poultry being one of the leading sectors of the economy producing the highest number of entrepreneurs in the state, said Fisheries and Animal Resources Development Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain at a workshop organised here Tuesday by the Fisheries and Animal Husbandry Department to make the state self-sufficient in egg production.
Inaugurating the workshop, the minister said that as per Odisha Poultry Policy-2015, 100 per cent stamp duty exemption on the purchase of land for poultry farms in any part of the state has been extended to entrepreneurs. The state government is providing subsidies for layer farming. The per capita availability of eggs in the state has increased from 50 eggs per year in 2018-19 to 67 in 2022-23. “In order to become self-sufficient in egg production, the state aims to produce 120 lakh eggs per day by 2024-25. For this purpose, to prepare a road map to achieve the proposed goals, the workshop was organized by the department,” said an official.
Daily production of eggs in the state during 2019-20 was about 65 lakh, but now it has reached about 103 lakh per day. Egg production has increased by 58 per cent in the last 4 years. The Compound Annual Growth Rate is around 27 percent. “The state government has launched a three-pronged campaign to increase egg production. Incentives are provided to commercial layer farming. 157 commercial layer farms have been established in the state and 90 lakh eggs are being produced daily by these farms.
About 3.5 lakh eggs are being produced daily from 700 medium-scale 1000-capacity layer farms and about 9 lakh eggs are being produced from backyard poultry units. Commercial, semi-commercial and backyard poultry together have emerged as the egg basket of the state,” informed the official. Department Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar Vashishth said that more and more young entrepreneurs are coming forward to establish layer farms and the government is organsising seminars and workshops to promote layer farming.
ARINDAM GANGULY, OP
