Supply Chain Issues In The Indian Poultry-meat Industry: The Case Of a Vertically-integrated Farm

The world poultry-meat industry is growing the fastest among all the meat categories due to increasing concerns for health, safety, convenience and variety, and price-competitiveness. Issues related to poultry-meat supply chains include, among others, perishability of the product, environmental regulations and globalization. In this paper, the supply chain issues specific to the Indian poultry-meat industry are discussed and the case study of a vertically-integrated farm is presented. The poultry-meat industry in India is a success story, gradually transforming from unorganized backyard farming into large-scale, organized farming. However, the supply chains are still characterized by inefficiencies, diseconomies of scale, lack of investments and inadequate infrastructure. Public and private investments in research on genetics, nutrition, automation, disease control and food safety, and creating adequate infrastructure in terms of warehouses and cold storage facilities should be encouraged. Policies and procedures also need to be eased to facilitate investments and exports. The focus should be on consolidation through mergers and acquisitions, and creating vertically-integrated farms such as the one presented in the case study.