Poultry business too serious to be left to industry

The news that Indian poultry in parts of Maharashtra and Gujarat have been detected with the deadly avian influenza virus may have temporarily shaken chicken eaters in the country. But it will be a mistake to believe that we have contained the problem, simply because we have culled (killed and buried) some hundred thousand birds and may vaccinate in the coming days some hundred thousand more chicken. We are simply missing the point: the mutating virus is not about birds but about the practice of 'cultivating' these birds and how it is changing in the modern food industry.

The 'other' food crisis

There is so much about rural India that escapes notice that one more area of neglect will not break the camel's back. I am talking about the crisis of fodder for livestock. A grim silence surrounds it. 'Grim', because in rural India, domestic animals aren't 'pets' but engines that drive the economy. They provide resilience and wealth -- people cope with adverse conditions because of their livestock. But no policy exists on how to feed these 500 million or so animals.