(CNN) France is to ban the controversial practice of shredding live male chicks by the end of 2021, agriculture minister Didier Guillaume announced in Paris on Tuesday.

Billions of male chicks are culled around the world by industrial farmers as they are considered redundant by both egg and poultry producers.

Egg producers use cockerels only for insemination while poultry producers favor hens for meat, as they grow faster.

As a result, male chicks are routinely culled by being thrown, live, into shredders -- though some farmers suffocate them in bags or gas them to death.

Announcing the ban, Guillaume said "nothing will be like it was before" in poultry farming after the end of 2021.

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