Vol. 9, Issue 4 (2020)

Author(s):
Sowmiya V, Bhanu Rekha V, Ajay kumar VJ, Rajalakshmi M and Sivachandiran R

Abstract:
Poultry farming is an important vocation of the farmers of Union Territory of Puducherry. Currently Puducherry has a poultry population of around 2.7 lakhs which is hardly enough to meet the demand of meat and eggs in Puducherry. Although there is enough scope for developing the poultry farming, few farmers are only taking up the practice. Under these circumstances, this study was performed to understand the challenges faced by the poultry farmers and also to suggest the possible solutions so that poultry farming can be improved to provide food security. A total of 45 farmers in and around Puducherry were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. The farmers who reared birds for egg, meat and dual purposes were 33.44 per cent, 2.22 per cent, 64.44 per cent, respectively. About 53.33 per cent had reported about stray dog problems. Respiratory and Gastro intestinal diseases (46.67 per cent) and other diseases like coccidiosis, fowl pox, etc. were reported as a cause of mortality in birds by 84.44 per cent of respondents and 15.56 per cent of mortality was due to dog bite. Although 64.44 per cent were aware about vaccination for Ranikhet disease, fowl pox but only 44.44 per cent vaccinated their birds for Ranikhet under the guidance of the veterinarians. Out of all the respondents only 44.4 per cent had dewormed their birds. The farmers using poultry wastes as manure were 60 per cent and remaining 40 per cent disposed by dumping, whereas the dead birds were either buried (75.56 per cent) or dumped in garbage (13.33 per cent) or sold (6.67 per cent). Better assurance on food security can be achieved through attracting more farmers into poultry farming sectors by creating awareness campaigns on different aspects of poultry rearing like management and waste disposal and also by improving the knowledge of existing poultry farmers.