Better business planning for the animal feed sector depends on the use of data to create better assessments, modeling, forecasting, carrying out measurements, determining base lines, using historic data, arriving at inferences, and, finally, applying it.  USSEC and the southern Indian poultry industry felt that data management, a critical industry need, was lacking and could make the entire value chain of animal husbandry more efficient.  These improvements, in turn, could help enhance soy utilization in the poultry and aqua feed sectors, as soy meal is gradually becoming a critical input for the Indian feed industry in terms of supply, price and quality.  USSEC Country Director – India Dr. P. E. Vijay Anand and Dr. Yadu Nandan of USSEC India’s Feed/Meal Program felt that teaching simple data management skills to representatives from the Indian feed industry would help them become better planners.
USSEC and IVPI (Institution of Veterinarians of Poultry Industry) engaged three resources to talk on the topic of data management.  The 106 participants represented four southern Indian states, which cover a majority of the poultry and aquaculture industry.  Leading companies including Suguna Poultry, Venkateshwara Hatcheries, Sneha Group, CP Feeds and Godrej were present along with all major poultry breeders.
Mr. K.S Ashok Kumar, founder of Maa Integrators, spoke on poultry informatics, demonstrating how multiple variables influence the poultry industry and how decisions can be made either to overcome disadvantages or cash in on advantages.  An interesting data matrix with variables plotted by time, season, price and placements formed the basis of discussions and debates.
Mr. Mahesh Ramakrishnan, CEO of Nanobi Analytics, engaged the gathering with business analysis and quantitative approaches to decision making.  His team designed models from poultry and aquaculture industry data that could be further developed for use by the industry, which were demonstrated online during the session.  Simple modeling yielded many interesting outcomes.  For example, on a modeling graph, if there was a dip in yearly poultry or fish prices, one could click the cursor on the dipping point and the model would open an inset indicating further graphical analysis on additional factors responsible for the dip.
Dr. Anand talked about Data Driven Decision (DDD), which captures data management examples from the live poultry and aqua industry and shows what each of them could mean for the industry.  Most data models were developed for USSEC’s feed program in India and pertained to measurements, forecasting or determining simple factors from complex matrices that could form mathematical basis for assessments.
Of the 30 million tons of India’s total compounded feed industry, the groups present at the event represented 6 million tons or 1.5 million tons of soy meal usage.  An improvement between 2 and 5 percent (on 1.5 million tons current soy meal usage by the groups) could arise from better planning and decision-making and result in 30,000 – 75,000 tons of additional, direct soy meal usage.  Additionally, data management could positively influence growth on feed milling, bird or fish marketing, consumption, and price realization, among other areas, all of which have an indirect bearing on soy meal demand.