Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to permit poultry farmers to import maize without having to pay import duty.
In his letter, a copy of which was released to the media, he said maize – the primary feed for poultry – had been affected by the Fall armyworm.
“Tamil Nadu is the fourth-largest producer of broilers and the second-largest egg producer. Tamil Nadu has been witnessing a cumulative growth percentage of 23.5 in egg production and 3-0.53 in poultry meat production during the period 2013-14 and 2017-18,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
Maize was the primary ingredient in poultry feed and accounted for 47% of the total poultry feed consumed, he noted.
2.20 lakh hectares hit
“The pest has affected over 2.20 lakh hectares of maize crop out of the 3.55 lakh hectares sown in Tamil Nadu in 2018-19. The pest has also affected crops in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.
“Production of maize has been severely hampered, leading to skyrocketing prices of maize and putting the poultry farmers to great hardship in sourcing maize for poultry feed,” Mr. Palaniswami pointed out.
In this scenario, the Chief Minister requested the Prime Minister to allow poultry farmers to import maize without having to pay duty.
