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Humble egg: UPites new-found love during the lockdown
The Covid-19 pandemic seems to have egged on the people in Uttar Pradesh into consuming more eggs.
The Covid-19 pandemic seems to have egged on the people in Uttar Pradesh into consuming more eggs.
As per estimate, UPites were buying over 2.5 crore eggs per day as against an estimated 1.5 crore eggs per day last year during the same period.
The ban on meat-chicken-fish sale, unhindered supply and sale of eggs and nutritional value of eggs worked together in the high sale of eggs despite the summers.
“Between April and now, all summer months, the Uttar Pradesh consumed the number of eggs it consumes in winters. This is the Saawan month (of Hindu calendar)--when sales of all non-vegetarian products and eggs goes down drastically but despite the summers and the sawaan, this time eggs are selling high,” said Ali Akbar, president, UP Poultry Farmers’ Association.
Akbar said the state’s average summer consumption was between 1.25 crore to 1.75 crore eggs per day.
“Chicken, meat was banned in UP since when Covid started in UP. When the government imposed the lockdown, eggs sale were allowed under essential supplies. We have witnessed higher demand and sale of eggs since April. And it continues. I have been selling 25-30 per cent more eggs than what I sold just before the lockdowns. Never before we saw such demand of eggs in summers,” said Ashwani Kumar, owner of Mama Milk Point in Udaiganj.
He also said that this was the first time he observed eggs-hoarding tendencies among people.
“Normally, people buy six or a dozen eggs. But this time, they pick up egg trays. One tray has 30 eggs people picking up more than one tray at a time is quite common now,” said Ashwani.
According to the Livestock Production Data of the UP Animal Husbandry Department, the state had produced 260 crore eggs in 2018-19--that was roughly 70 lakh eggs per day.
“But the capacity of UP egg farmers had touched 1.5 crore egg per day before Covid,” said Akbar.
UP Egg Farmers Association data said that UP has 644 egg farms (with the capacity to produce 10,000 to 30,000 eggs per day each) in the organised sector and an additional backyard (unorganised) farms that produce 40 lakh eggs per day.
The surplus eggs are coming from Telangana, Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan.
The egg producers of those states are reaping the benefits of this jacked up demand.
But then how did the UP egg farmers couldn’t reap the benefits of higher demand?
“Because we were not in a position to meet the demand with enough supplies. Our egg production fell. The price of bird feed went up during lockdowns while already the UP egg farmers were reeling under high electricity bills as the poultry farmers’ power connections are commercial while they should be concessional ones as they too should be considered farmers. So many farmers could not sustain the business.
Egg farmers buy chicks are Rs 5 each, but when the fresh non-vegetarian sale got banned in the state; many farmers sold the full-grown live birds at a premium--around Rs 125 each bird--to people (to be reared at home and then used for eating whenever desired). So, UP egg farmers production went down and other states’ benefited.”
The egg farmers in UP got the opportunity to sell their birds at the premium because the state’s chicken industry had suffered badly due to pre-lockdown rumours that birds spread Covid. Before the lockdown, the chicken was either sold at throwaway prices, distributed free or culled.“Now, the farmers are rearing new chicks and they would be ready to lay eggs in about three months. So, the UP farmers would be in a position to supply 1.5 crore eggs per day by September,” said Akbar.
“Eggs became a staple in our family since April,” said Tarun Gupta, a Canal Road resident.
Eggs are well known good source of protein and good fats.
