The poultry industry is in deep crisis with a steep fall in chicken prices in the retail market in various parts of the district.
The price of the chicken has come down to Rs. 70 a kg from the earlier Rs. 160 while a live bird costs Rs. 67 per kg which earlier used to cost between Rs. 120 and Rs. 130.
The poultry breeders attribute the fall in the price to the outbreak of bird flu in Kerala that has affected export of local birds to that State. This has forced the poultry breeders to reduce the price of the chicken to ensure continuous movement of perishable product. There are about 300 broiler poultry farms and another 120 layer bird poultry farms in the district that are hit by the recent development.
Chukka Reddy, a poultry farm owner in Manakondur mandal, said that he was forced to resort to distress sale due to which he has been incurring loss of Rs. 40 to Rs. 50 per bird. “Every bird consumes feed worth about Rs. 60 to Rs. 70 to gain four kilograms of weight. We cannot store birds that are above four kilograms as there’s no market for heavy weight birds,” he complains.
National Egg Coordination Committee national consultant Bala Swamy said that the poultry breeders do brisk business during winter. But this time around, the outbreak of bird flu in Kerala has hit them badly.
“It has come as a rude shock to the industry that has been in crisis since the last two years,” Dr. Swamy said.
He clarified that the bird flu would not cause any harm to humans.
