The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Minister opens poultry expo

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Saturday, Mar 05, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Minister opens poultry expo

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, MARCH 4. The Minister for Major Irrigation, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, has said that the State Government will do everything to help the State maintain its place in the country's poultry industry.

Inaugurating the two-day Poultry Expo - 2005 here on Friday, he said the Centre was giving attention to the poultry industry and from April 1, poultry feed and dressed chicken would be exempted from VAT.

He said there was need to improve awareness among people and increase per capita consumption of eggs, an inexpensive source of protein. It would do wonders in combating malnutrition, he said.

The Andhra Pradesh Poultry Federation president, Kasireddy Narayan Reddy, earlier expressing the woes of poultry farmers, sought exemption for them in market cess. He said the farmers were struggling for water. The Minister said the State Government was supportive of the industry, as it had lots of potential for rural employment.

The convener of the expo, M.A. Nazeer, welcomed the gathering and spoke on the need for setting up of a poultry board on the lines of the Coir and Tobacco Boards. Poultry constituted 40 per cent of the livestock sector and employed about 1.6 million people. Its contribution to the GDP was an estimated Rs. 12,000 crores, he revealed.

The president, Poultry Breeders' Association, M. Damodar Reddy, said the broiler industry was witnessing a shift from simple farming to integrating technology. Farmers needed to imbibe the technology and be competitive, he said.

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