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Poultry tech start-ups still yet to solve cost hurdle for smallholders
Cost is one of the major challenges poultry agritech start-ups are facing as they try to help smallholder farmers adopt their solutions for better efficiency in a volatile industry.
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A worker feeds laying hens on July 5, 2023 at a farm in Manonjaya, Tasikmalaya regency, West Java. (Antara/Adeng Bustomi)
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number of agritech start-ups have come up with solutions to help smallholder poultry farmers, but convincing industry veterans to use the new tech remains a challenge, in part due to worries over costs.
The start-ups have been partnering with smallholders to offer them cage system management solutions and smart farming apps that analyze data to improve efficiency and tackle price volatility. Some firms also offer services that connect poultry smallholders with other businesses and help them optimize production.
But their progress has been hampered by prolonged oversupply as well as El Niño-induced woes over poultry feed.
Arief Witjaksono, CEO of Tangerang-based poultry agritech firm Pitik Digital Indonesia, said extreme weather and temperature swings due to El Niño had disrupted corn harvests in many places around the world including Indonesia, thus cutting into supplies of one of most widely used raw materials for chicken feed.
“Soaring feed prices inflate production costs, squeezing profits when the market price for poultry is already volatile,” Arief told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Galuh Adi Insani, cofounder of Yogyakarta-based start-up Broiler X, said some of the firm’s partner farmers seemed to have “lost confidence” because of uncertainty in the market, even though their businesses were backed by data.
“Oversupply and unfavorable prices can quickly dampen farmers’ spirits, even with data-driven transparency through our smart farming technology,” Galuh told the Post on Jan. 15.
