Indian firm can provide quality, inexpensive meat

Indian firm can provide quality, inexpensive meat

Hind Agro Industries Ltd. (HAIL), which is based in New Delhi,
can provide top quality water buffalo, sheep and goat meat
products at very cheap prices, but Indonesian customers can not
enjoy this because of the trade barrier imposed by the Ministry
of Agriculture which bans the import of those products.

Industry sources described the barrier as a product of the
"strong Australian lobby in Jakarta."

"We can provide our products 70 percent cheaper (than the meat
from Australia)," said HAIL managing director Sirajuddin Qureshi
in a recent interview.

"Our animals are disease free ... and we have not received
complaints from customers," he claimed, adding that HAIL exports
its meat products to around 40 countries, enjoying a US$100
million turnover per year from buffalo meat alone.

HAIL has set up a modern, integrated abattoir-cum-meat
processing plant. It has the capacity to produce 300 tons of
meat per day.

The company encouraged farmers to rear buffaloes and lambs to
ensure supply, and it in turn extends assistance to them by
providing door to door veterinary services by experts. HAIL has
also set up veterinary hospitals. Slaughter is carried out
following the Islamic Sharia guidelines of "Halal" method and
also as per the requirements of the importing countries.

HAIL, which has in control of around 700,000 animals, has been
exporting its products since the past 20 years mainly to ASEAN
countries, Far East, Middle East and Africa. --JP