The purpose of this paper is to clarify how the broiler meat production areas in India can remarkably develop, from the viewpoint of economic geography. The results of this analysis are summarized as follows.
In India, the meat production structure has changed since the mid-1980s. Concretely, the production quantity of chicken has drastically increased and the chicken sector has become the largest meat sector in India as of 2003. The main cause of this development is the achievement in arranging broiler meat production and distribution systems in India since the mid-1980s.
After the mid-1980s, the broiler raising areas have rapidly expanded from southern and eastern India to northern India. In the newly formed broiler raising areas, the raising ratios of improved broiler chicks tend to be high. Namely, it is clear that the development of broiler raising in India is largely dependent on the acceptance of improved broiler chicks.
With this expansion of broiler raising areas in India, the broiler hatcheries played very important roles. The Indian chicken sector has few processors, so the hatcheries largely affect the vertical integration of broiler meat production. Actually, from a survey in Haryana state in Dec. 2003, it is clear that the broiler growers procure their chicks from the hatcheries, and ship their grown birds to live bird markets.