Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) is a major issue, globally as well as in India. Suffice it to say, AMR impacts every animal-protein-producing species.
Let’s begin with poultry, as poultry meat constitutes roughly 50% of India’s total 11 million tonnes of annual meat production.
Historically, antimicrobials have contributed to fueling intensive commercialization over the last few decades by keeping birds alive and productive in challenging conditions. However, this has also resulted in the rise of drug-resistant “superbugs.” This not only makes existing solutions for poultry less effective, but according to some studies, AMR generated within the poultry sector also impacts human health through three distinct pathways: the food chain, direct physical contact, and environmental contamination.
It is easy to identify antibiotics as the culprit. However, the issue is more nuanced. Before the intensive production of poultry started in the 1970s, the per capita consumption of poultry was a meagre 160g per annum. Today, the national average is more than 4 kg. In metros, it is 15 kg, and in states like Telangana, it is 21 kg per capita per annum.
The same story applies to eggs. From a per capita consumption of around 10 eggs per year in the 1970s, we are now at 106 eggs per year. One of the prime reasons was that even as general inflation rose, the real (inflation-adjusted) cost of chicken decreased significantly, making it cheaper than other animal protein sources. Along with many other interventions, the sensible usage of antimicrobials also played an important role.
Prima facie, there is nothing wrong with that.
A similar pattern can be seen in agriculture revolution in terms of the usage of fertilizers and pesticides. In the 1960s, for per tonne of food produced, Indian farmers used about 8 kg of fertilizer, and now it is 160 kg. Total agricultural pesticide consumption in India has increased eightfold since the 1960s. More importantly, unlike the global trend where the usage of weedkillers dominates, insecticides still make up over 50% of all chemical pesticides used in Indian agriculture.
As it is rightly said, two wrongs don’t make a right. However, the whole point is about how we are attempting to make it right, rather than foreclosing the topic.
A commitment to the cause will make all the difference.
While the European Union enforces some of the world’s strictest and most progressive binding regulatory bans on livestock antibiotic misuse, the continent still grapples with challenges in execution. Even in the EU, whereas northern and western Europe maintain exceptionally low antimicrobial resistance due to aggressive stewardship policies, southern and eastern Europe experience severe resistance challenges due to the porous execution of these policies.
The EU plans to implement its 2026 Import Wall policy under which, starting September 2026, the EU will fully enforce a mandatory rule. Under this policy, any foreign country exporting meat or animal products to the EU must legally prove they have banned growth-promoting antibiotics and the 37 critical antimicrobials reserved strictly for human medicine. Interestingly, even giant exporters like Brazil face immediate deletion from authorized trade lists.
With an estimated 2,000 MT to 3,000 MT of antimicrobial usage in India’s livestock sector, we consume roughly 3% of the global livestock antimicrobial use. The Indian government has significantly tightened regulations to phase out non-therapeutic antibiotic use. However, a distinct gap remains between statutory laws and actual ground-level enforcement on local farms. While large integrators are modernizing overall management practices, which adds to performance efficiency, smaller farms face a steep financial barrier to upgrading their infrastructure. Consequently, their reliance on prophylaxis remains inevitable if they are to compete in the market.
Interestingly, solutions are at hand. Substituting traditional prophylactic drugs with natural feed alternatives like phytocomplex-based solutions, organic acids, and probiotics to stabilize gut health can support productivity and growth performance in poultry. Phytocomplex solutions—whole-plant extracts containing hundreds of active, naturally synergistic biomolecules—represent one of the most promising frontiers in combating AMR. Unlike conventional antibiotics that typically act through a single primary mechanism, a phytocomplex acts as a multi-target botanical network. This complex structure makes it exponentially harder for pathogens to evolve resistance.
Driven heavily by stricter global regulations on animal antibiotics and a consumer-led “clean-label” movement, the global market for poultry phytogenics has now grown to approximately USD 2 billion. Poultry has become the single largest consumer of plant-based feed tech, capturing 44% of the global feed phytogenics market, and of that, interestingly, the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region accounts for nearly 41% of the global market.
Quantifying exactly how much prophylactic (preventative) and growth-promoting antibiotic usage has been replaced by phytocomplex solutions is complex. This is because phytogenics are rarely used as direct one-to-one substitutes. Instead, they form part of a broader Antibiotic-Free management matrix alongside vaccines, biosecurity, and organic acids. Globally, animal feed experts estimate that phytocomplex solutions have successfully replaced roughly 20% to 30% of the historical market volume once held by sub-therapeutic and prophylactic Antibiotic Feed Additives.
Commercial feed mills and integrators in India are adopting plant-based solutions at a growth rate of 7% annually to keep up with domestic food safety demands and international export compliance. This contrasts with the year-over-year decline in prophylactic feed antibiotic sales in poultry feed (at least among integrators and corporate players). The future of antibiotic usage in poultry feed in India is moving toward the strict, legally mandated elimination of non-therapeutic antimicrobials, transitioning the industry into an Antibiotic-Free operational era.
To survive the future without the preventative crutch of in-feed antibiotics, the poultry industrial matrix is shifting toward a One-Health biosecurity framework, which is the best way forward to restrict the usage of antibiotics and antimicrobials.
By Dr (Capt.) Tanweer Alam, Director-Strategic Marketing, Nutreco South Asia with over 30 years of experience in animal health and nutrition. An ex-Army Captain, he has held leadership roles at Kemin and leading veterinary companies. A veterinarian with an MBA, he is former Vice President of INFAH and an expert in strategic marketing and consumer insights.
