DHARMAPURI: The retail price of poultry egg has touched ₹6, but Indian poultry farmers say they are reeling under losses, some even selling the poultry birds, as poultry feed prices have increased.
Poultry farmers in Namakkal, a key producer of poultry eggs in the State, said the rise in poultry egg prices is because of the rise in Indian poultry feed prices. Indian Poultry farmers stated that over the past year, production cost increased by roughly 30% which put immense strain on poultry farmers who couldn’t stabilise the maintenance of their poultry farms. Further, the hike in prices of poultry feed forced many poultry owners to close down some sheds to reduce expenses which declined poultry production, they said,
Vangli Subramanian, President of Tamil Nadu Egg Poultry Farmers Marketing Society, said, “For example, before Covid 19 lockdown, we bought a kg of poultry feed for ₹18- ₹20 and now we spend ₹30 – ₹32 per kg.”
“Moreover, due to hike in fuel prices and other raw materials used in manufacturing poultry feed, poultry farming incurred losses. On Wednesday, the price of a poultry egg was `5.20. For Indian poultry farmers to incur a profit, this price has to remain the same for the upcoming six months, but this is highly unlikely,” he added.
K Mohan, a poultry farmer said, “Consumers might feel that the prices of poultry eggs are high. But, for a poultry farmer, this egg price helps us to meet out other expenses. To produce a single poultry egg we invest approximately ₹4.80 to ₹5.10. If we include other costs like labour, transportation, vaccination and electricity, we barely break even.”
Mohan added, “I owned over one lakh poultry chickens. As I was unable to afford the poultry feed and to compensate losses I had suffered in the past 6 months, I had to sell over 20% of my poultry chickens. Nearly 35% of poultry farmers (in Namakkal) did the same to survive in the business,” he said.
He added, “In Namakkal, the average production of poultry eggs in the district is 6 crore poultry eggs per day. But presently, poultry farms are producing only five crore poultry eggs. Among them, a significant portion of the poultry eggs is sold to other states like Kerala and Karnataka. Over 50 lakh poultry eggs are provided for noon meals. So, the supply in local markets has been affected. To salvage the situation, poultry feed prices should be subsidized or market prices of poultry eggs should be increased to `6 per egg for Indian poultry farmers to recover.”
Source – newindianexpress
