Coronavirus scare hits poultry farmers, buffalo meat exports
Farm gate chicken prices has collapsed to as low as ₹20 per kg as consumers shun poultry productsPlunging prices have also pushed some poultry owners in Karnataka and Haryana to bury chicks and grown up birds alive, in a bid to save on feed costs
New Delhi: Every night Jagdeep Aulakh goes to bed counting his daily losses. In the past few weeks he has lost between ₹7,000 to ₹10,000 every day. The heavy toll on Aulakh’s finances-- over ₹2,00,000 over the past month-- were largely due to rumours spread on social media that consuming chicken or eggs can increase the risks of getting infected by the Novel Coronavirus.
Prices of eggs and live chicken have dropped sharply hitting an estimated 5 million farmers and poultry owners across India. This is despite the federal government clarifying on 10 February that it is safe to consume chicken and other poultry products while following general principles of hygiene.
Aulakh is now selling eggs at ₹2.6 a piece produced at his farm in Haryana’s Karnal district, compared to a cost of ₹3.5 per piece. Two months back he received more than ₹4.5 a piece. “I might soon go broke," he told Mint over phone.
For farmers selling live chicken the reality is grim. Across India, farm gate prices have collapsed to ₹20-30 per kg compared to production costs of ₹70 per kg. According to Aulakh, a 10,000 bird farm requires an investment of ₹1.5 million. With a 40 day production cycle he estimates a loss of at least ₹7,50,000 per farm.
Plunging prices have also pushed some poultry owners in Karnataka and Haryana to bury chicks and grown up birds alive, in a bid to save on feed costs. “Farmers are likely to have lost at least ₹10,000 crore due to the sharp fall in prices while traders have benefited by exploiting the market condition (creating panic among farmers and prompting them to dumping the produce)," said Vijay Sardana, adviser to the Poultry Federation of India.
In addition to poultry owners, farmers growing maize and soybean are also likely to be hit by lower prices, since these crops are used as raw material by the poultry feed industry.
“We have requested the government to announce a moratorium on loan repayments by poultry farms, and providing surplus food stocks available with public agencies at a lower price to them," Sardana said. He added that it may take till October for demand to recover.
Not just poultry owners, the outbreak of Covid-19 in countries like China and South East Asia has also impacted India’s ₹26,000 crore buffalo meat export industry. In February, exports to the tune of ₹1500 crore were hit due to fewer orders from China and Vietnam, said Fauzan Alavi, Vice President of the All India Meat and Livestock Exporter’s Association, an industry lobby.
This implies a direct impact on dairy farmers who receive between 70 to 80 percent of the export price from sale of out-of-milk buffaloes. “We are hoping that exports will stabilise in the next two to three weeks as normalcy returns in China," Alavi added.
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