Poultry industry to profit from new freight train

17 November 2012 | Namakkal

 

The first goods train that passed through Namakkal on Thursday has brought smiles on the faces and hope for poultry farmers as they will be most benefited by the freight service on the Salem to Karur route – via Namakkal.

“A train with 58 wagons carried about 5,100 tonnes of grains crossed Namakkal on Thursday. Poultry farms here need such a train to meet feed requirements of the industry in the district,” said chairman of the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) Namakkal Zone Mr. P. Selvaraj.

He said that poultry farms in this district needed about 5,000 tonnes of feed everyday for the nearly 4.25 crore hens and one crore chicken. More than 2,500 tonnes of feed materials 50% was being brought from other states using trucks at a freight charge that was higher than what it would cost to transport those using trains.

“We bring about 1,250 tonnes of soy bean meal and protein cakes from Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Gujarat using trucks. An equal quantity of maize is being brought from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh while fish is being brought from Mangalore, Gujarat, and Tuticorin,” he said.

The expenditure was likely to come down by about INR 500 a tonnes to INR 700 a tonnes on feeds. It would help the industry save INR 7.5 lakh a day. Farmers could save INR 100 a tonnes for materials brought from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

“Truck strikes will not affect us anymore,” Mr. Selvaraj said.