Haryana poultry farmers stares at losses amid bird flu threat
Poultry farmers in Haryana are staring at losses following the sudden drop in chicken and egg prices owing to reports of suspected bird flu after deaths of over four lakh poultry animals in state in the last one week.
As per the poultry farmers, this week, wholesale prices of chicken have witnessed a drop of about 30% and reached around Rs 60 from around Rs 100 last month. Even the prices of eggs have dropped. As per the daily prices of the National Egg Co-Ordination Committee, the prices of eggs (100 units) have declined from Rs 558 to Rs 512 on December 2, causing huge losses to the poultry farmers in state.
“The wholesale prices on which companies purchase chicken from the farmers have declined to around Rs 40 per kg from Rs 60-95 in the past one week,” said Mahinder Singh, a poultry farmer from Yamunanagar.
People who run small chicken shops are also bearing the brunt as bird flu has reduced the sales and people are hesitating to consume chicken and eggs.
“We have reduced prices to around Rs 30 per kg and now are selling raw chicken at Rs 150 per kg from Rs 180 of earlier this month,” said Bharat Singh, owner of a chicken shop in Karnal. “The daily sales of chicken have reduced from 20kg to 10kg in the past one week,” he added.
State North India Poultry Farmers Association president Lucky Lather said, “The prices of eggs have declined from Rs 5.50 to Rs 4.30 on Thursday. Government should intervene immediately and protect the interests of poultry farmers. They should announce that there is nothing wrong in chicken and egg consumption and the reason behind death of the birds should be ascertained.”
Haryana animal husbandry and dairy department issued an advisory on poultry and related products amid reports of suspected spread of avian influenza virus.
As per officials of the Haryana animal husbandry and dairy department, about 15,000 more deaths of poultry birds were reported in Barwala of Panchkula district on Thursday, taking the total number to over 4 lakh in last 10 days.
Officials said that samples have been sent to Bhopal and reports are awaited.
The Covid-19 pandemic had caused huge losses to the poultry industry last year as broiler chicken prices in wholesale mandis had dropped to Rs 45- 50 per kg following the outbreak in March.
Even the prices of eggs had declined to Rs 285 to Rs 290 (100 units) in the wholesale markets during this period, causing huge losses to the poultry farmers in state.