Novus India Animal Nutrition Pvt Ltd- a reliable name in the Animal nutrition industry, is Pushing
the boundaries of modern poultry nutrition & health further. In an e-interview, the Poultry and Dairy business heads-Sanjeev Khanna and K.Senthilkumar discussed the game changing trends that can revolutionize the industry, innovative solutions of the company and much more. Below are the excerpts from the interview.
Sanjeev Khanna, you have been associated with this industry for more than two decades, please share your observations of how the industry has developed over these years?
Sanjeev Khanna: Well there are many changes Industry has seen in past two decades and we came far way, the Industry evolved from small backyard farming to a full scale, sustainable Industry, in terms of production efficiency India is no-where less than world’s standards, In-fact Poultry Industry in the country is a very potential and progressive, growing faster as compared to the global market. Broiler segment is growing faster than the Layer. At present more than 90% of the produces are consumed domestically and hence lot of scope for further expansion and exports. The processed sector is at a nascent stage but growing rapidly. The industry has been adapting and embracing new technologies and managemental practices very rapidly over the years whether it’s in terms of conversion to EC sheds, feed formulations or disease control. Challenges have been in terms of disease outbreaks, frequent price variations of feedstuffs and margin pressures on the producers.
Antibiotic reduction is a major concern for the world poultry market, how India, Bangladesh, and Nepal markets are adapting to this trend? What solutions does Novus have for the same?
Sanjeev Khanna: Food safety is the major concern for the consumers now and markets are slowly moving towards the direction, Bangladesh has already moved forward in that direction. Discussions at different forums and rising interest of the poultry producers to produce safe food points towards the fact that India is also gearing up to move towards antibiotic reduction. Although this topic has always been a controversial one, particularly in our country where disease pressures are very high, there is always this possibility of reducing antibiotic usage. Adopting proper biosecurity measures will be very important if we have to reduce antibiotic usage and this area needs more attention and awareness and I am sure that consumer demand on food safety will drive the business towards this direction in coming years. ABF production cannot dependent upon one solution and Novus is having a complete program towards Antibiotic-free production which helps in “Pushing Boundaries”
India is a highly diversified market, which geographies of the country are progressing faster in terms of boiler and layer feed consumption?
Sanjeev Khanna: The southern region has always been the driver in terms of adoption of new technologies and ideas. But the others regions like the western and Northern regions are catching up very fast. And recently a lot of activities and growth are seen in the Eastern Sector where lot many new ventures have come up in terms of Feed milling & broiler production
What trends do you foresee in the near future which can revolutionize Indian layer feed industry?
Sanjeev Khanna: Growing Exports / Entry into the export market can revolutionize the complete trend of Indian layer feed Industry forcing the producers to either go for production of antibiotic-free eggs. As focus would shift to the Size and Quality of eggs from the quantity of Eggs, feed trends would change too. Similarly, more focus on prevention rather than treatment will force farmers to include more nutraceuticals in their feed.
Dairy feed shall continue to remain the critical area. At present less than 20 % of the requirement for cattle feed is met by the cattle feed industry. What trends do you foresee that can be the game changer for this sector?
K. Senthilkumar: India is having 300 million plus total cattle population and 132 Million milch animal population (Cow and Buffalo). But the feed production via organized and unorganized sector is 8-10 MMT. And only 25% of milk produced in India is handled by organized sector (co-op and private companies) remaining is being utilized by local consumption and unorganized sector. It is forecasted that near about 40% of milk produced in India will be handled by organized sector by 2023.
In India, food crops primarily form the bulk of the basal diet of ruminant animals. This biomass does not supply significant nutrients to animals. The dairy feed would remain the significant source of nutrients to the dairy animals. Poor quality dairy feeds are being rapidly replaced by good quality feeds and additives.
Co-Operative Societies, Private procurements agencies, Compound feed manufactures with proper extension network is expected to be a game changer for this sector. Current upgradation of breeding programs will lead to increase in the population of high producing animals will force the change in current feeding practice to TMR based feeding and ration balanced formulation will also play a vital role in future.
The concept of environment friendly livestock production is also a disruptive trend. What effect do feed additives have in limiting the environmental footprint of livestock production?
K. Senthilkumar: It has been shown that with the Improvement in productivity, livestock carbon footprint of milk production goes down. Any initiative towards improvement in milk productivity through the use of quality feeds and/or additives will greatly help in reducing the carbon footprint of milk production. Feed formulation with digestible Amino acid basis ration and usage of highly digestible raw materials and good water quality management will play a significant role in improving environment-friendly livestock production to reduce carbon footprints.
Would like to highlight any other any interesting concepts or innovations that the company has introduced or planning to introduce in the near future?
Sanjeev Khanna: We have seen a lot of changes in mineral nutrition in recent years and producers started exploring and understanding the benefits of strong mineral delivering mechanism, with own R&D trials and research Mintrex is one of the finest and innovative minerals delivering technology available today, which provide maximum bio-availability of metal to animal, apart from this Novus is working strongly on ABF programs, enzymes and feed technology solution for the producer across the globe. We will continue our customer-centric approach with new innovative solutions.
Various companies are introducing digital technology into the feed additive market. Does Novus also have plans to go digital?
K. Senthilkumar: It would be a very useful initiative. Through the user-friendly software, marketing staff can show the deficiency of certain critical nutrients in the ration of dairy animals for a particular level of milk production, with the available feed resources.
Sanjeev Khanna: Novus is already available in digital marketing space with customer friendly interface tools like Verify to demonstrate the benefits of Mintrex& Enzymes.
