CLFMA OF INDIA’s 54th AGM 62nd National Symposium 2021

The Compound Livestock Feed Manufacturers of India (CLFMA) conducted its 54th Annual General Meeting and 62nd National Symposium in Hyderabad on 24th and 25th September 2021 at Hotel Taj Deccan. The theme of the event was ‘Feeding The Growing Livestock Population: Current And Future Challenges’ that was very relevant considering the recent surge in prices of soymeal, which is an important component of the animal feed.

The event was graced by the presence of Hon’ble Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri. Parshottam Rupala as a Chief Guest along with various other eminent policymakers and industry leaders.  The event received an overwhelming response from the audience and witnessed the presence of more than 300 delegates from various parts of India.

The inaugural event started with the lamp lighting ceremony.

Opening the event, Mr. Vijay D. Bhandare, Convenor, CLFMA presented the welcome note, followed by the address by Mr. Divya Kumar Gulati, Deputy Chairman, CLFMA. Both the presenters thanked the policymakers for allowing the import of Soybean meal when the industry was facing a crisis of increased production cost. Afterwards the Guest of Honour, Hon’ble Minister of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Telangana; Shri Talasani Srinivas Yadav addressed the audience and said that livestock sector plays an important role in the state’s economy and improvement in production can only happen with proper supply of nutrients from animal feed. He assured the industry for all possible government’s support for benefiting the livestock producers. This was followed by CLFMA Chairman’s Mr. Neeraj Kumar Srivastava’s speech; he spoke about increasing human population and importance of livestock products in meeting protein demand while also highlighting the need of protecting the environment. Mr. Vivek Deshpande, CMD of Rudrani infrastructure Ltd., talked about importance of livestock industry and role of CLFMA in augmenting the industry welfare and livestock sector. Thereafter, Hon’ble Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Telangana, Dr. Ranjeeth Reddy spoke about the challenges specific to poultry farmers and urged the policymakers to give equal importance to the sector as Dairying and Fisheries while making policies. Mr. B.B. Patil, Hon’ble Member of Parliament, (Lok Sabha), Zahirabad also spoke about the importance of the livestock industry in augmenting farmer’s income. Dr. O. P. Chaudhary, Joint Secretary (NLM/PC), Dept. Animal Husbandry & Dairying said that the government is committed to support the livestock industry including poultry and cited the recent Govt. Permission for soybean meal import at the time of crisis, he also said that there’s a provision for poultry entrepreneurs as well in the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Fund of worth 15,000 Crores INR to boost the poultry production in India.

In his long-awaited speech, Hon’ble Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri. Parshottam Rupala emphasized upon the importance of the livestock sector in doubling the farmer’s income in accordance with the PM’s vision with constraints of limited land holding with small and marginal farmers of India. He also urged the industry leaders to spread awareness about the importance of nutrition for increasing livestock productivity and invited ideas to make animal fodder from agricultural waste and bring the concept of ready to eat processed feed. He urged all the support to industry and emphasized on the need for contract farming for increasing the bargaining power of small and medium scale farmers for the further development of industry.

Talking about the event, CLFMA Chairman Mr. Neeraj Kumar Srivastava said, “India’s livestock industry is growing at a CAGR of 7%. With increasing disposable income, the demand for animal protein is also witnessing a huge growth. The domestic grain production will not be able to keep pace with the growing energy and protein demand for animal feed unless some immediate steps are being taken to increase per acre productivity and total production of grains like maize and soybean. Considering these challenges, we had very fruitful discussions during these 2 days involving the industry and policy makers.”

This was followed by the CLFMA Award Ceremony. The famous CLFMA awards were given to five leaders who had diligently worked and contributed to the development of the livestock sector. The Life Time Achievement awards were presented to Dr. Subhash V. Vaidya, Chairman, Noble VetScience LLP & Mr. Bharat Tandon, Founder / Chairman of Fibroheal Woundcare (P) Ltd. (FWPL) & MD, Healthline Pvt. Ltd. (Sericare Division). CLFMA Awards were presented to Dr. A. Natarajan, MVSc., Ph.D is Prof. & Head, Tamilnadu Veterinary Animal Sciences University, Dr. V. Sridhar, General Manager, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) &  Prof. V. Ramasubba Reddy Retd. Professor (LPM Avian), Agricultural University, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad – 500030, Telangana State for their marvellous contribution to the Indian Livestock Sector. CLFMA Chairman congratulated all the CLFMA award winners.

CLFMA also had a meeting with Hon’ble Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri. Parshottam Rupala, Mr. B.B. Patil, Hon’ble Member of Parliament & Dr. O. P. Chaudhary, Joint Secretary (NLM/PC), Dept. Animal Husbandry & Dairying, myself,     Mr. Divya Kumar Gulati, Dy. Chairman, Mr. Suresh Deora, Hon. Secretary, Mr. P. S. Nandakumar, Past Chairman were on dais.  A number of renowned Industry Stakeholders viz. Mr. B. S. Yadav from Godrej Agrovet Ltd., Mr. Naveen Pasuparthy, Treasurer, Dr. Jeetendra Verma from INFAH, Mr. C. Vasanthkumar PF&BA, Mr. Suresh Chitturi, Chairman International Egg Commission, Mr. Praveen Lunkad, Past Chairman, Dr. P.S. Mahesh, Director (I/C), CPDO,  Mr. B. Soundararajan, Past Chairman,  Mr. S. V. Bhave, Past Chairman, Mr. Amit Saraogi, Past Chairman, Mr. Sandeep Karkhanis, CLFMA Member, Mr. Sumit Sureka, Dy. Chairman, Mr. Vijay Bhandare, Dy. Chairman, Mr. C.V. Rao, Past Chairman, Mr. B. S. Rana, Poultry Punch Publications, Dr. Devender Hooda, CLFMA Zonal President – North, Mr. Pawan Kumar Agarwal, CLFMA Member, Shri. Ramesh Chander Khatri, President, PFI & Mr. Ranpal Dhanda, Poultry Federation of India, Dr. Sujit Kulkarni, CLFMA Member, Mr. Abhay Shah, CLFMA Zonal President – West & Mr. Nityam Shah from Spectoms, Mr. Chakradhar Rao, President, IPEMA, Mr. Dinesh Kumar, S. R. Publications &  Dr. Sushant Rai, President, KPFBA, Mr. Amit Saraogi, Past Chairman,          Mr. Gulrez Alam, IB Group were some of the renowned Industry Stakeholders, who very well interacted with Hon’ble Minister and other Government Officials. Hon’ble Minister listened to all the problems patiently and understood the overall Industry condition. Hon’ble Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Shri. Parshottam Rupala was the Chief Guest along with various other eminent policymakers and industry leaders who had a fruitful meeting. Mr. B. S. Yadav, Past Chairman put forth all the problems which, Livestock Industry is facing in front of the Hon’ble Minister.

The Second day Symposium started with the Welcome Address by Mr. Neeraj Kumar Srivastava, Chairman CLFMA OF INDIA.

The symposium had 3 sessions and a round table discussion.

In the First Session was titled Demand Supply Outlook of Corn & Soybean, Ms. Prerana Desai, Head of Research, Samunnati Agri, spoke on the topic Have Corn Dyanamics Changed in Recent Years? Mr. Unupom Kausik, President, NCML, spoke on the topic “Market Driving Factors: Soybean & Soybean Meal. Overall speakers spoke about the demand-supply commodity outlook for corn & soymeal – the two most important commodities, that contribute significantly to the compound feed production.

The Second session was titled “Special Address” which covered the Sustainability & Future of Online sales of Poultry products by Mr. Balram Singh Yadav, MD of Godrej Agrovet Ltd.

From Government of India Dr. Lipi Sairiwal, Assistant Commissioner AH, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying gave the presentation on the AHIDF Fund Central Sector Scheme under the Prime Minister’s Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus package of INR 15000 Crore in detail. Dr. Gagan Garg, Assistant Commissioner, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying & Dr. Sujit K. Dutta, Joint Commissioner NLM, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying were present on the dias.

The Third session touched upon the topic of Strategies for Sustainable Animal Agriculture viz. Contours of Sustainable Animal Feed Market by Mr. G. Chandrashekhar, Economist, Senior Editor, Policy Commentator and Market Linkages: Derivatives, Spot for Animal Feed products by Mr. Mrugank Paranjape, Managing Director & CEO of NCDEX e-Markets Ltd. In this session, the Industry Pain Points were discussed in detail.

We had a round table discussion around the same theme.

Valedictory Session was proposed by Shri. S. V. Bhave, Past Chairman, CLFMA OF INDIA followed by Felicitation to all Sponsors, Media, Guests and Invitees.

The event ended with a thank you note by Mr. Suresh Deora, Hon. Secretory, CLFMA. He thanked the speakers, industry leaders, policymakers and delegates for their overwhelming response and making the event a huge success.

Overall the CLFMA interacted with various stakeholders in the industry and government on policy making related to the livestock sector. The association has diverse membership from across the animal protein value chain including feed manufacturing; poultry, dairy and aquaculture business; animal nutrition and health, veterinary services, machinery and equipment; processing, distribution and retailing of meat.

Videos of all presentations and detailed Session Summary posted on the Association’s website:www.clfma.org