Pakistan's Poultry Industry: Growth & Export Potential

Explore how Pakistan's poultry industry is vital for food security and rural employment. Learn about the transition to a value-driven, export-oriented sector through innovation, disease surveillance, and quality standards, unlocking immense export potential for the nation.

RURAL INNOVATION

Muhammad Mohib Ladin, Saba Javed & Ammara Azam

7/1/2026

This article examines the remarkable expansion of Pakistan's poultry industry while highlighting the risks that continue to limit its long-term competitiveness. Drawing on recent evidence, case studies, and expert perspectives, it explores the twin realities of rapid production growth and persistent structural weaknesses. Over the past two decades, poultry has become one of the fastest-growing segments of Pakistan's agricultural economy, supplying affordable animal protein to a rapidly expanding population and generating employment for millions of people involved in farming, feed production, processing, transportation, and marketing. Yet the industry's impressive production gains have not been matched by comparable success in international trade.

According to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2025–26, the national poultry population has reached approximately 2.2–2.3 billion birds, maintaining an impressive long-term annual growth rate of around 8.1 percent. Poultry meat production has increased to approximately 2.83 million metric tons, accounting for 44.8 percent of the country's total meat production, while annual egg production has risen to 26–27 billion eggs. These figures demonstrate the sector's growing importance in strengthening food security, improving nutrition, and supporting rural incomes. The recent stabilization of feed supplies, following the resumption of genetically modified (GM) soybean imports, has also helped reduce feed shortages and support higher production levels.

Despite these achievements, Pakistan's poultry exports remain negligible compared with its production capacity. The industry continues to face a range of structural constraints that undermine its international competitiveness. Poor feed management often affects egg quality and bird performance, while the widespread misuse of antibiotics raises concerns about antimicrobial resistance and food safety. In addition, fragmented supply chains, limited processing facilities, inadequate cold-chain infrastructure, weak traceability systems, and inconsistent quality standards make it difficult to satisfy the stringent sanitary and phytosanitary requirements of high-value export markets.

These challenges are not unique to Pakistan. Across Asia, poultry industries have experienced similar patterns of rapid domestic growth accompanied by obstacles to export diversification. Nevertheless, international experience also demonstrates that these constraints can be overcome through stronger regulation, investment in modern processing and logistics, improved disease surveillance, better biosecurity, and scientific innovation. Promising initiatives, such as the University of Agriculture Faisalabad's poultry breeding and genetic improvement programs, illustrate how locally developed technologies can enhance productivity while reducing dependence on imported breeding stock. By addressing systemic weaknesses and embracing innovation, Pakistan can transform its poultry sector from a high-volume domestic producer into a globally competitive industry capable of generating greater export earnings, supporting rural development, and contributing more substantially to national economic growth.

Global Expansion, Persistent Challenges, and the Race for Competitiveness

The global poultry industry has emerged as one of the fastest-growing segments of modern agriculture, driven by rising population, urbanization, changing dietary preferences, and increasing household incomes. As consumers seek affordable, nutritious, and easily accessible sources of animal protein, demand for poultry meat and eggs has increased steadily across both developed and developing economies. Compared with beef, mutton, and pork, poultry offers shorter production cycles, lower production costs, higher feed conversion efficiency, and fewer cultural or religious restrictions, making it the preferred source of animal protein for billions of people. According to international market estimates, the Asia-Pacific poultry meat market is now valued at more than US$175 billion, reflecting the region's growing importance in global food production and consumption. This rapid expansion demonstrates that poultry farming is no longer merely a component of agriculture but has become a strategic industry supporting food security, employment, rural development, and economic growth.

Several countries illustrate how strategic investment can transform the poultry sector into a major economic engine. India, for example, has experienced remarkable growth in egg production, increasing from approximately 6 billion eggs annually during the 1980s to more than 138 billion eggs in recent years. This expansion has been supported by improved genetics, better disease management, private-sector investment, and stronger integration between producers and processors. Similarly, Poland has successfully transformed its poultry industry through large-scale commercial farming, modern processing facilities, and strict compliance with European Union food safety standards. Within a decade, the country increased poultry production by nearly 60 percent, becoming the largest poultry exporter within the European Union. These examples demonstrate that production growth alone is insufficient; sustained success depends on investment in technology, quality assurance, processing infrastructure, and export-oriented policies.

Despite these encouraging success stories, significant obstacles continue to constrain poultry development in many developing countries. Smallholder poultry farmers remain particularly vulnerable. Studies by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) show that many small producers face limited access to affordable credit, veterinary services, improved breeding stock, quality feed, and technical training. Without adequate financial resources or professional animal healthcare, disease outbreaks can rapidly spread through village flocks, reducing productivity and increasing mortality. Poor housing, inadequate biosecurity, and limited vaccination further compound these challenges, making small-scale poultry farming a risky enterprise despite its income-generating potential.

Disease outbreaks continue to represent one of the greatest threats to the global poultry industry. Highly pathogenic avian influenza, Newcastle disease, and other infectious diseases have repeatedly demonstrated their ability to disrupt production and international trade. Poland's experience during the 2021 avian influenza outbreak, when approximately 13 million birds were culled, illustrates how rapidly disease can undermine even highly developed poultry industries. Similar outbreaks across Asia, Europe, and Africa have resulted in billions of dollars in economic losses through reduced production, trade restrictions, and costly disease-control measures. These experiences highlight the importance of continuous disease surveillance, rapid diagnostic systems, vaccination programs, and strict farm biosecurity.

Another growing concern is the widespread misuse of antibiotics in poultry production. For decades, antibiotics have been used not only to treat sick birds but also as growth promoters and preventive medications. Excessive and inappropriate use has contributed to antimicrobial resistance, one of the world's most pressing public health challenges, while raising concerns over antibiotic residues in poultry products. Encouragingly, management practices are beginning to change. According to a 2025 FAO Pakistan survey, 60.8 percent of poultry farmers now consider probiotics the most effective alternative to antimicrobials, while 21.7 percent prefer organic acids as safer feed additives. These findings suggest increasing awareness of sustainable poultry production practices that protect both animal and human health. The sector's importance is further reflected in its contribution to employment, with Pakistan's poultry industry now directly supporting approximately 1.5 million jobs, making it a major source of rural and peri-urban livelihoods.

A major challenge facing many developing countries is the persistent gap between producing large quantities of poultry products and producing products that consistently meet international quality and safety standards. Countries such as India have successfully bridged this "quality gap" by investing heavily in modern hatcheries, automated processing plants, cold-chain logistics, certification systems, and internationally recognized sanitary standards. These investments have enabled India to export poultry products to more than 60 countries. In contrast, countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh continue to produce large volumes primarily for domestic consumption but struggle to penetrate high-value export markets. Much of the poultry is still marketed through traditional live-bird markets, while limited processing capacity, weak traceability systems, inadequate cold storage facilities, and inconsistent quality control prevent compliance with increasingly stringent international sanitary and phytosanitary regulations.

Feed availability and supply-chain inefficiencies present another significant constraint to sustainable growth. Feed typically accounts for 65–70 percent of total poultry production costs, making the availability and affordability of feed ingredients essential for industry profitability. According to the USDA (2025), Pakistan's domestic maize consumption is projected to reach approximately 9.1 million tonnes during the 2025–26 marketing year, exceeding local production. Poultry feed alone accounts for nearly 65 percent of national maize consumption. Although Pakistan has around 300 commercial feed mills with a combined annual production capacity of approximately 12 million tonnes, inefficiencies in grain marketing, storage, transportation, and feed distribution continue to increase production costs. The pressure on domestic supplies is reflected in the sharp 87 percent decline in maize exports during the first quarter of 2025, falling from 419,000 tonnes in the previous year to only 53,000 tonnes, as rising domestic demand absorbed available stocks. Addressing these upstream bottlenecks through improved feed efficiency, better logistics, enhanced storage infrastructure, and stronger supply-chain coordination will be critical if Pakistan's poultry industry is to remain competitive, profitable, and capable of expanding into global export markets.

Innovation, Integration, and the Path to a Competitive Poultry Industry

One of the most promising developments in Pakistan's poultry sector is the growing emphasis on locally developed technologies that address the needs of small and medium-scale farmers. Among these innovations, the UniGold breed, developed by the University of Agriculture Faisalabad (UAF), has emerged as an important example of how scientific research can help bridge the gap between productivity, affordability, and sustainability. Rather than relying entirely on imported commercial breeds that often require intensive management and costly feed, UAF researchers have focused on developing a dual-purpose bird that combines the desirable characteristics of indigenous poultry with the higher productivity of commercial strains. This approach recognizes that the majority of Pakistan's poultry producers are smallholders who require birds capable of performing well under village and semi-commercial production systems.

Traditional indigenous (desi) chickens remain popular among Pakistani consumers because of their distinctive taste, adaptability, and natural resistance to local diseases. However, their productivity is relatively low, with many laying fewer than 70 eggs annually. In contrast, imported commercial layer breeds can produce well over 300 eggs per year but require nutritionally balanced commercial feed, climate-controlled housing, intensive health management, and higher production costs that are often beyond the reach of small-scale farmers. These limitations create a significant productivity gap that reduces the profitability of rural poultry farming.

According to research conducted by the University of Agriculture Faisalabad, the UniGold breed offers a practical compromise between these two production systems. Under proper management, UniGold hens can produce approximately 180 to 200 eggs annually while maintaining many of the desirable characteristics of indigenous poultry, including their preferred meat quality, adaptability to local climatic conditions, and greater tolerance to common diseases. An additional advantage is its ability to obtain up to 75 percent of its nutritional requirements from locally available resources such as household kitchen waste, crop residues, insects, and homemade feed mixtures. This significantly reduces dependence on expensive commercial feed, which accounts for nearly two-thirds of poultry production costs, thereby improving profitability for resource-constrained farmers. Its relatively stronger disease resistance may also reduce the routine use of preventive antibiotics, contributing to improved food safety and efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance.

However, genetic improvement alone cannot transform Pakistan's poultry industry. Sustainable growth requires a comprehensive strategy that addresses technical, managerial, infrastructural, and policy constraints simultaneously. Improving feed management through balanced rations and promoting efficient dual-purpose breeds such as UniGold can reduce production costs while enhancing productivity. At the same time, stronger regulation of antibiotic use and wider adoption of alternatives such as probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, and improved farm biosecurity can improve animal health and ensure compliance with international food safety standards. The findings of the FAO Pakistan 2025 survey, which show increasing farmer acceptance of probiotics and organic acids, provide encouraging evidence that the industry is gradually moving toward more sustainable production practices.

Equally important is investment beyond the farm gate. Establishing farmer cooperatives, expanding modern slaughtering and processing facilities, developing reliable cold-chain logistics, and introducing standardized grading, traceability, and certification systems are essential for improving product quality and reducing post-harvest losses. These improvements would enable Pakistan to meet the stringent sanitary and phytosanitary requirements of international markets while increasing consumer confidence at home. Stronger collaboration among farmers, universities, the private sector, government agencies, and financial institutions is equally critical for translating research innovations into commercial success. Finally, targeted pilot projects focusing on value addition, export certification, cold-chain integration, and market diversification can help transform Pakistan from a high-volume domestic poultry producer into a high-value, export-oriented competitor. By integrating scientific innovation with supportive policies and modern infrastructure, the poultry sector can generate higher farm incomes, strengthen rural economies, create employment, and contribute more significantly to national economic growth and food security.

Conclusion

Pakistan's poultry industry has demonstrated remarkable growth, becoming a cornerstone of national food security, rural employment, and agricultural development. However, sustained production growth alone will not guarantee long-term prosperity. The sector must now transition from a volume-driven industry to a value-driven and export-oriented enterprise. Achieving this transformation requires stronger disease surveillance, responsible antibiotic use, improved feed efficiency, modern processing facilities, reliable cold-chain infrastructure, and internationally recognized quality and traceability standards. Equally important is continued investment in locally developed innovations, such as the University of Agriculture Faisalabad's UniGold breed, which offers practical solutions for improving productivity and profitability among smallholder farmers. With coordinated action by government, academia, industry, financial institutions, and producers, Pakistan can unlock the immense export potential of its poultry sector. By combining scientific innovation with policy reforms and strategic investments, the industry can generate higher rural incomes, strengthen food security, expand export earnings, and establish itself as a competitive player in the global poultry market.

Please note that the views expressed in this article are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of any organization.

The writers are affiliated with Institute of Agricultural and Resource Economics, & Agri. Policy, Law and Governance Centre, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Pakistan, respectively and can be reached at saba.javed@uaf.edu.pk

Pakistan's Poultry Industry: Growth & Export Potential

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