Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla is the President – Broiler Breeders Association North (BBAN) and owner of M/s Vijay Research & Breeding Farm in district Hisar (Haryana, India). He started his poultry business in 1988 with 2000 Commercial Broiler Birds. Two years later in 1990, he started Broiler Breeding Farming & Hatcheries with 2000 Broiler parent birds and today, his Broiler Breeding Farm capacity is approximately one lakh birds.

In an Exclusive Interview to POULTRY TRENDS, Mr. Bisla addresses the current challenges of North Indian poultry sector.

Excerpts of the interview are reproduced as follows:

What are the reasons of current increase in poultry feed prices?
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: The sky rocketing hike in prices of raw material i.e. Soya DOC is the main reason for the increase in feed rates. There is 250% increase in Soya DOC rates currently and therefore, the feed which is being produced is available at a higher rate in market.

To reduce feed cost, what are the alternate protein sources available?
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: The Sunflower DOC, Mustard Cake, Till Oil Cakes, Rice Gluten, Maize Gluten are the protein source options. But we can use these in Poultry to a permissible limit.

Any suggestions to the Government?
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: Poultry meat and eggs are a great source of protein. They also provide lots of other nutrients our body needs, like iodine, iron, zinc, vitamins and essential fatty acids. The Government must prioritise the poultry sector needs and import of Soya DOC at a very low or no import duty. This will help reduce feed production cost and greatly help in sustaining production.

How has the ongoing flu outbreak affected the North Indian poultry industry.
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: There has been incidences of Flu from time to time in different parts of the country largely in wild birds. The recent outbreak of Flu in Barwala Layer belt (Haryana) affected many layer farmers with huge financial losses. Large mortalities in farms have now led to less productions and also affecting the Industry’s economy in a worst way.

What are the issues faced by the producers today?
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: Our poultry producers are facing several problems like high feed production cost, transport costs, expensive vaccine costs. In these times of covid-19, due to less awareness at the consumer level, the consumption of poultry has gone down, reducing the demand in market. The lockdown has also hit us in a very bad way. And non-availability of Flu vaccines are also hitting the producers in a hard way.

Please comment on culling price due to Avian influenza set by the Govt.
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: There are different verticals in Poultry Industry like Layer Birds, Broiler Birds and Broiler Parent Birds. Every bird is different and their cost of production and rearing is completely different from each other. However, our Government has decided a single policy for all Poultry birds i.e. INR 85 per bird as compensation. This is far too less for Broiler Parent Birds as its cost of production is more than INR 1500 per bird. The government must revise the Culling price as per the cost of production of birds in the supervision of concerned authorities.

Any other challenge for North Indian Poultry Industry today?
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: As there is a lot of climatic variations in North India. And therefore, the management for every flock and every month of the year is different depending upon the time. This increases our cost of production from other regions in country. There is extreme weather (both hot and cold) and humid in summers. This is affecting our productions too.

How you see the future of poultry industry in next 2 years?
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: Poultry Industry has a very bright future in years to come as there will be gap in demand and supply of the birds. This would result in increasing the demand of Chicken in market and making good profits.

Please tell us about Broiler Breeders Association North (BBAN).
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: In 1999, we formed North Zone Broiler Breeder Association (NZBBA) with same objectives. Later, in 2012, the name was changed to The Broiler Breeders Association North (BBAN).

Currently we have about 230 Broiler Breeders members.

Our Association has always been working for the welfare and betterment of the poultry sector. We try to solve issues and keep in mind the interests of North Broiler Breeders and the problems faced by them. We always stand with each other as one family and have been helping our Industry and Country grow.

Who can be a member and from what region?
Mr. Gurminder Singh Bisla: As per the By-laws of Association, only Broiler Breeders can be members of the Association.

Breeders from North India (Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan Delhi and Chandigarh) can become members by paying a nominal onetime membership fee.