Poultry Farming in India: Types, Farming Systems and Government Schemes

Overview

Poultry farming in India is the raising of domestic fowl, mainly chickens and some ducks, for eggs and meat. It ranges from backyard flocks kept by village households to commercial farms of more than 1,000 birds, and it is supported by the National Livestock Mission, the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund and farm credit.

What Is Poultry Farming? Meaning, Layers and Broilers

Layers, Broilers and Improved Poultry Breeds

Birds kept for eggs are called layers and birds kept for meat are called broilers, and the two are raised differently. A broiler reaches slaughter weight at four to six weeks on a protein-rich ration and is raised on floor litter, while a layer is kept for many months of laying, often in a cage, so broiler and layer farming are two separate businesses.

Better birds come from breeding. The White Leghorn lays about 280 eggs a year, and modern broilers are crossbreeds selected for fast growth; public institutes also breed low-input birds that can live on free range in villages.

Types of Poultry Farming in India

Types of Poultry Farming by Purpose, Breed and Species

The types of poultry farming can be sorted in three ways, by what the birds are kept for, by breed and by species, and each tells the farmer something different.

Table 1. Types of poultry farming by purpose, breed and species
Basis Types Example in India
Purpose Layers for eggs; broilers for meat; dual-purpose birds for both Commercial layer farms; broiler contract farms
Breed Indigenous, exotic and improved crosses Aseel and Kadaknath; the Leghorn; low-input birds such as Vanaraja
Species Fowl (chickens) and ducks Fowl lay about 99 per cent of eggs; ducks about 1 per cent

A dual-purpose chicken is one used for both eggs and meat. Many older breeds were of this kind; the sharp split between laying and meat birds came with industrial breeding. Among Indian breeds, the Aseel is a game chicken found especially in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, and the Kadaknath, a black-fleshed bird of Dhar and Jhabua in Madhya Pradesh, is bred mostly by rural and tribal households and got a geographical indication tag in 2018. The White Leghorn is used as a layer in many countries.

By species, fowl dominate. Improved fowl lay 86.35 per cent of India's eggs and desi fowl 12.59 per cent, while desi and improved ducks together lay just over 1 per cent. Duck rearing matters locally, especially where ponds and water bodies are at hand.

Backyard Poultry Farming and Commercial Poultry Farming

The most important distinction in India is scale. A farm with more than 1,000 birds is counted as commercial poultry; the small flock a rural household keeps around the house is backyard poultry. The two systems serve different ends. The first is a business; the second gives extra income and food to families with little land.

  • Birds counted: The 2019 census counted 534.74 million commercial birds and 317.07 million backyard birds.
  • Growth since 2012: Commercial poultry grew about 4.5 per cent; backyard poultry grew about 46 per cent.
  • Eggs in 2024‑25: Commercial farms laid 84.49 per cent and backyard flocks 15.51 per cent.
  • Breeds kept: Commercial farms keep improved layers and broilers; backyard flocks need hardy low-input birds that can live on free range.

Backyard poultry farming suits households that cannot enter commercial farming, and it matters most for women and the landless. Low-input birds, bred by public institutions such as the Central Avian Research Institute, the ICAR Directorate of Poultry Research and the Central Poultry Development Organisations, survive on free range with little bought feed. They include Vanaraja, Gramapriya, CARI Gold, Kalinga Brown, Kaveri, Chabro and Giriraja.

Poultry Farming Systems and Poultry House Types

Free-Range, Semi-Intensive and Intensive Poultry Farming Systems

Poultry farming systems differ in how much freedom the birds have and how much the farmer controls. Worldwide, 74 per cent of poultry meat and 68 per cent of eggs are produced intensively, and the main alternative is free-range farming at lower stocking densities.

  • Free-range: Birds roam freely for part of the day and are shut in a shed at night against predators. They can peck, scratch and forage, but the farmer has less control over what they eat, which makes output less reliable.
  • Semi-intensive, or yarding: A hutch or coop is combined with a fenced yard, and the birds are released into it daily. Indian integrated farms keep poultry either backyard or semi-intensive.
  • Intensive: Layers are kept in cages and broilers on floor litter, in sheds where more birds fit into each unit of space, which raises productivity and lowers food costs.
Spectrum of poultry farming systems. Free-range: Birds roam by day and are shut in a shed at night, as in backyard flocks. Semi-intensive: A coop with a fenced open yard, birds let out daily. Intensive: Layers in tiered cages, broilers on floor litter in climate-controlled sheds. Worldwide, 74 per cent of poultry meat and 68 per cent of eggs come from intensive systems; in India, commercial farms with over 1,000 birds lay 84.49 per cent of eggs.

Each system trades one risk for another. Free-range birds can behave more naturally but are more exposed to predators and disease, and in South-East Asia poor disease control in free-range farming has been linked to bird flu outbreaks. Intensive sheds give the farmer more control over feed and output, but they concentrate manure and ammonia.

Poultry House Types: Battery Cages, Furnished Cages and Litter Houses

  • Battery cage: A small metal cage holding 3 to 8 hens, arranged in long rows of several tiers, often back to back. Eggs are cleaner, less feed is needed per egg and more hens fit into a house.
  • Furnished cage: A larger "enriched" cage with a nest, litter for scratching and perches, so the hens can behave more naturally while keeping most of the cage's economic advantages.
  • Litter house for broilers: Broilers are not raised in cages. They are floor-raised on litter such as wood shavings, peanut shells or rice hulls, in large climate-controlled grow-out houses with mechanical feeding and ventilation.

Battery cages are criticised because they give a hen too little space to stand, walk, flap her wings, perch or nest. The European Union banned the conventional battery cage from January 2012, which is why the furnished cage was developed. In broiler houses the main hazard is the air, because droppings release ammonia, which damages the birds' eyes and lungs when there are too few fans.

Integrated Farming System: Poultry with Crops, Fish and Dairy

How Poultry Fits into an Integrated Farming System

An integrated farming system (IFS) combines several enterprises, such as crops, dairy, poultry, fisheries and horticulture, on one farm, so that the by-product of one becomes an input for another. India has nearly one-fourth of the world's small and marginal holdings; such farms cannot add land, so the way forward is to get more from the same land by diversifying. Indian farms already follow a mixed crop-livestock system in which cattle, goats and fowl are the most widely held species, so poultry fits easily into an integrated farm.

  • Quick returns: Poultry, backyard or semi-intensive, gives eggs and meat for the household and the market and supplements earnings quickly.
  • Recycling: Birds eat crop residues, weeds and kitchen waste, which cuts feed costs, and their droppings return nutrients as manure and vermicompost.
  • Fish ponds: Fish in a farm pond can be fed with poultry droppings, a cheap addition to the system.
  • Ducks: Duck rearing can be added where water bodies exist, alongside fish.
Diagram of an integrated farm: Crop residues and weeds feed poultry and dairy animals; poultry droppings feed the fish pond and, with dairy dung, go into vermicompost; the organic manure returns to the crops. The by-product of one enterprise becomes the input of the next.

The gains are measurable. On marginal farms, cropping alone gives about 416 days of work a year, a crop-fish-poultry system 612 and a crop-fish-duck-goat system 752. A one-hectare model at Bihar Agricultural University with crops, orchard, dairy, goats, fish and ducks earned ₹3,14,000 a year, five times the income of rice-wheat or rice-maize farming. Because income comes from several sources, IFS also cuts the risk from crop failure, price swings and bad weather.

Poultry Farming Government Schemes in India

National Livestock Mission: Rural Poultry Entrepreneurship

The main poultry farming government scheme is the National Livestock Mission, run by the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying since 2014‑15 and revised from 2021‑22. Its three sub-missions cover breed development of livestock and poultry, feed and fodder development, and innovation and extension. For poultry, its aim is to bring unorganised rural poultry into the organised sector through entrepreneurs.

  • Who can apply: Individuals, self-help groups, farmer producer organisations, farmers' cooperatives, joint liability groups and Section 8 companies.
  • What they build: A parent farm of at least 1,000 parent layers of low-input birds, a rural hatchery, and a brooder-cum-mother unit that rears chicks for four weeks before they go to village households.
  • The subsidy: A one-time 50 per cent capital subsidy, up to ₹25 lakh a unit, paid through the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) to the lending bank in two halves: The first after 25 per cent of the cost is spent, and the second after completion.
  • What it excludes: No subsidy for working capital, a personal vehicle, or buying or renting land.
Hub-and-spoke diagram of the National Livestock Mission rural poultry unit. The hub is the entrepreneur's unit: A parent farm with at least 1,000 parent layers, a rural hatchery that turns eggs into chicks, and a mother unit that rears chicks for four weeks, with a 50 per cent capital subsidy up to ₹25 lakh. Spokes carry four-week-old chicks of low-input birds to village backyard flocks.

Preference goes to entrepreneurs who build forward and backward links, the hub-and-spoke model in which one unit supplies chicks to many backyard keepers. The guideline's model unit shows the scale: 1,100 parent birds (1,000 hens and 100 cocks) giving 500 hatching eggs a day, a hatchery sized for 3,000 eggs a week that yields 2,250 day-old chicks, and a mother unit brooding 2,000 chicks up to four weeks.

Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund and Farm Credit

Larger investments in the livestock value chain, such as feed plants and meat processing, are financed under the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF), approved by the Cabinet on 24 June 2020 with ₹15,000 crore under the AtmaNirbhar Bharat package. On 1 February 2024 the Cabinet realigned it with an outlay of ₹29,610 crore up to 2025‑26, folding in the Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund. Scheduled banks lend up to 90 per cent of the project cost, the Department pays 3 per cent interest subvention, and a ₹750 crore credit guarantee fund for small enterprises is managed by NABARD.

  • Eligible activities: Dairy processing, meat processing and value addition, animal feed plants that supply quality concentrated feed at affordable prices for cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig and poultry, and breed improvement and breed multiplication farms.
  • Eligible borrowers: Farmer producer organisations, private companies, individuals and entrepreneurs, Section 8 companies and micro, small and medium enterprises.

For a small farmer, the everyday source of working capital is the Kisan Credit Card (KCC), which since 2019 also covers animal husbandry. Under the Reserve Bank of India's directions of 2026, rearing poultry birds is named among the allied activities it finances. Its short-term limit covers post-harvest expenses, the household's consumption needs and the maintenance of farm assets, while equipment and the construction of a bird shed come under long-term investment credit, although such credit still reaches small and women farmers unevenly.

Previous Year UPSC‑CSE Questions

Each Prelims question is explained option by option, and each Mains question comes with an answer outline.

  1. UPSC Prelims 2020Under the Kisan Credit Card scheme, short-term credit support is given to farmers for which of the following purposes?
    1. Working capital for maintenance of farm assets
    2. Purchase of combine harvesters, tractors and mini trucks
    3. Consumption requirements of farm households
    4. Post-harvest expenses
    5. Construction of family house and setting up of village cold storage facility

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    1. a 1, 2 and 5 only
    2. b 1, 3 and 4 only
    3. c 2, 3, 4 and 5 only
    4. d 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5
    How to approach this Prelims question

    Question type: Select from a list

    Approach: Sort each purpose into short-term credit or long-term investment credit.

    • Step 1: The KCC's short-term limit covers post-harvest expenses, household consumption and the maintenance of farm assets, so statements 1, 3 and 4 qualify.
    • Step 2: Machinery such as tractors and harvesters is long-term investment credit, so statement 2 does not.
    • Step 3: A family house and village cold storage are not short-term KCC purposes, so statement 5 does not.

    Trap to watch: Some of these items can be financed under a KCC as investment credit; the question asks only about short-term credit support.

    Why each option is right or wrong:

    • (a) 1, 2 and 5 only: Wrong. Machinery (2) is investment credit, and a house and cold storage (5) are not short-term purposes.
    • (b) 1, 3 and 4 only: Correct. Farm-asset maintenance, household consumption and post-harvest expenses are short-term purposes.
    • (c) 2, 3, 4 and 5 only: Wrong. It includes 2 and 5 and leaves out 1.
    • (d) 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5: Wrong. Statements 2 and 5 are not short-term purposes.

    Answer: (b) 1, 3 and 4 only. The short-term KCC limit covers farm-asset maintenance, consumption and post-harvest expenses.

  2. UPSC Mains 2022 GS‑IIIWhat is Integrated Farming System? How is it helpful to small and marginal farmers in India?
    Answer outline

    The outline sets out what the question asks, the main arguments, relevant examples and the direction of the conclusion; it is not a full model answer.

    Directive verb: None; the question asks what IFS is and how it helps

    Approach: Define IFS with its components, show the recycling with a small diagram, then give the benefits for small and marginal farmers with evidence, and close with the constraints.

    Introduction: An integrated farming system combines crops, dairy, poultry, fisheries and horticulture on one farm so that one enterprise's by-product is another's input.

    Body (sub-themes to develop):

    • Why small farmers: India has nearly one-fourth of the world's small and marginal holdings; they cannot add land, so output per unit must rise.
    • Recycling: Crop residues and weeds feed poultry and dairy; poultry droppings feed fish and vermicompost; manure returns to crops.
    • Income and work: Cropping alone gives 416 days of work against 612 to 752 in integrated systems; a one-hectare model earns five times rice-wheat income.
    • Risk: Several income sources cushion crop failure, price swings and bad weather.
    • Constraints: Investment, management skill and market links.

    Conclusion: IFS turns a small holding into several small businesses, with poultry as the quick-return part, and it spreads only where credit and extension reach the farmer.

  3. UPSC Mains 2019 GS‑IIIHow far is Integrated Farming System (IFS) helpful in sustaining agricultural production?
    Answer outline

    Directive verb: None; the question asks how far IFS helps

    Approach: Explain how IFS sustains production, then weigh its limits.

    Introduction: IFS integrates several enterprises so that by-products are recycled within the farm.

    Body (sub-themes to develop):

    • Sustains production: Internal nutrient recycling (manure, droppings, vermicompost), year-round output, less bought input.
    • Resilience: Diverse income cuts the risk of crop failure, price swings and weather.
    • Limits: It needs investment, management skill and market links; not every enterprise suits every farm.

    Conclusion: IFS sustains production best on small farms where recycling replaces purchased inputs, provided credit and extension support it.

Sources

Editorial Disclaimer

This article draws on the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying's statistics and scheme guidelines, ICAR's Indian Farming, PIB releases and the other sources in its Sources list.

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