Poultry is one of the fastest developing segments of the main sector of agriculture with an average growth rate of 8 to 10% per annum. As a result, India is the third largest egg producer in the world next to the China and the USA. The country also holds the pride of being the fifth producer of broiler chicken meat next to the USA, China, Brazil and Mexico. The sector contributes about Rs.33000 crore to the National GNP and it has been presumed that it would reach to about Rs.60,000 crore in the next five decades. With the turnover of about 352 billion rupees, the sector offers direct and indirect employment opportunities with every increase of meat and egg consumption.

Despite spectacular growth in the poultry sector in the past four decades, there exists a great gap between the need and availability of poultry products. At present, the yearly per capita availability of egg is just 46 as against the need for 180 eggs and as far as meat requirement of 11 kgs, the present availability is just 1.8 kg per head. Therefore, to meet the demand for these, there is a need for about six times meat production and four times increase in production of egg. The increase in the demand for poultry products is expected to create more than 10 million jobs in different categories of poultry industry.

Career opportunities in Poultry industry:

There are plenty of job opportunities in poultry industry and candidates with interest towards this sector can opt for the following job positions:

• Poultry economics

• Value addition technologist

• Feeding technologist

• Processing technologist

• Production technologist

• Poultry house designer

• Advertiser

• Breeder

• Manager

• Consultant

• Education field personnel

• Research personnel

Educational requirement:

A candidate, who wishes to become a specialist in the field of poultry will have to initially pursue Bachelor of Veterinary and Animal Husbandry course and for getting into this course, candidates must complete 10+2 with biology, chemistry and physics subject. After completion of B.V. Sc course, candidates can go for Master of Veterinary Science & Animal Husbandry course and further go for Ph. D in Poultry related specialist. Candidates can further go for certificate or diploma course or short-term courses that are mentioned below:

• Appreciation course in Poultry Management for financial/non-technical persons

• Hatchery Management course for finding jobs in Hatchery

• Feed Analyses and food forumation course for feed manufacturers

• Advanced Course for Large Scale Poultry Farming

• Guidance/orientation course for existing farmers

• Basic Commercial Poultry Management Course

Government Job opportunities in Poultry:

There are different avenues of job opportunities for those who opt for poultry science as a career. Based on the academic background and qualification, candidates can find jobs in educational field as assistant professor, in research organizations are scientist and researcher in state and central departments as manager of poultry farms or as subject matter specialist. In state or central government organizations, candidates can expect salary of between Rs. 30000 or 40000 per month.

Latest government jobs in Poultry industry:

Government organization in the poultry sector recruit appropriate candidates with educational background in poultry, the names of government and public sector organizations that recently recruited candidates for the field of poultry are given below:

• General Manager (Meat) - National Meat and Poultry Processing Board

• Manager (QC) - National Meat and Poultry Processing Board

• Poultry Attendant – Ministry of Agriculture

Scope in Poultry industry:

As mentioned earlier, the demand of poultry products is far behind the production capacity in India and therefore steps are being taken to improve the production of poultry products and this initiative is expected to bring more job opportunities in this sector.