Govt apathy piques poultry sector

The state and the central governments have not shown any concern for the plight of poultry farmers who have been badly hit by the recent cyclone.

With no traces of sympathy or a helping gesture from the government even as one lakh chicks perished in the cyclone, the office-bearers of Andhra Pradesh Poultry Federation (APPF) visited the damaged poultries and gathered particulars of the loss of chicks and property.

The Puna-based Venkateswara Hatcheries, which came to know about the damage done to the poultry sector in the district, announced the dispatch of one lakh chicks to the affected farmers for free of cost, informed T Ramesh Babu, a leading poultry consultant.

Ramesh Babu said that the feed cost too had been putting burden on the farmers.

The feed cost is so high that many of the farmers are not in a position to afford it.

The price of maize, which was Rs 480 a quintal last year, has been hiked to Rs 560. The price of soya oil cake was increased from Rs 9,000 to Rs 11,200 a quintal. The rice bran and broken rice are now scarcely available in the market.

A farmer has to buy 15 tonne of feed a month to nurture 5,000 chicks. He has to buy the stock requirements for every two-three months.

Many small farmers are finding it difficult to bear the feed cost, and their number had come down from 700 to around 80 in the Krishna district," Ramesh Babu described the situation.

"After repeated appeals to the central government to release wheat to the feed-making units, the centre released insufficient quantities of broken rice. Though the Food Corporation of India has a huge wheat inventory, it refused to consider the federation's request," he added.

"The poultry sector had been ill-treated by government departments. The Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board recognised the poultry sector as an industry. The income tax department is collecting 33 per cent of tax from the poultry farmers, while the agricultural segment has been exempted from the same. When agriculture and cattle are given tax exemptions, why not poultry," he questioned.

Even insurance is are biased against the poultry segment. When the poultry sheds collapsed and chicks died, no insurance was sanctioned, he informed. Stressing the need for separate insurance for the chicks, Ramesh Babu said that the insurance premium for a chick is Rs 4.53.

A farmer should pay a premium of Rs 43,000 for 10,000 chicks, which he cannot afford. Even the presence of pesticide and antibiotic residues in eggs is also affecting the poultry sector.

Of the pesticides being produced in the country, 85 per cent go into farming operations and 65 per cent of the pesticides is consumed in Andhra Pradesh.Of this 85 per cent is used by farmers in Krishna and Guntur districts. Consequently, the eggs contain pesticide residues.

This is the reason why the state poultry farmers are unable to compete with their European counterparts, even though they are cutting down the costs on a par with the latter, Ramesh Babu added.