Our Bureau

Visakhapatnam , Sept 29

THE Andhra Pradesh Poultry Federation has urged the State Government to follow the examples of Orissa and Maharashtra and accord agriculture status to the poultry sector.

Speaking to newspersons on Thursday, Mr K. Narayana Reddy, President of the federation, said that an attempt was made more than a decade ago by the then Congress Government in that direction, but was not pursued.

"The Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Sharad Pawar, is in favour of such a move but he has left it to the States. We are confident that the State Government will respond positively to our plea."

Mr Reddy also wanted the State Government to abolish the market cess of one per cent on the poultry sector once and for all. "The cess is being kept in abeyance year after year but we want it abolished for good." Further, he said, the State Government should supply power at concessional rate of Rs 1.25 per unit, at least to the smaller poultry farms (with less than 10,000 birds).

Referring to the position in the State, he said that Andhra Pradesh was maintaining the lead in the sector with 4.5 crore birds in the layer segment and 5.5 crore birds in the broiler segment. "The growth rate at 20 per cent a year has been very encouraging during the past two years. We are hopeful the same trend will continue."

On the export front, however, he admitted that Tamil Nadu was doing better, as the egg grading facilities were better at Namakkal and the freight cheaper.

"Five to six containers of eggs are being exported from Namakkal to the Gulf and Europe, whereas we are able to send only two or three."

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