Poultry farmers lose about Rs 25 cr this summer

Poultry and broiler chicken farmers in the north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh have lost about Rs 25 crore during this summer.

"Since March, around 600 poultry and broiler chicken farmers in the districts of Visakhapatnam, Vijayanagaram and Srikakulam have wound up their operations because of heavy losses," K Varahala Raju, zonal chairman, National Egg Co-ordination Committee (NECC), told Business Standard.

Severe heat waves, abnormal increase in the prices of soyabean and maize, drop in chicken consumption are the main reasons for the losses in the poultry industry, Raju said.

Bigger farmers from these three districts have reduced their bird capacity in the sheds by nearly 13 lakh during this summer.

"Actually, poultry sheds in north coastal Andhra have a capacity of around 48 lakh birds but now only 35 lakh birds are in the sheds," he said.

Last year, poultry farmers purchased soyabean at Rs 10,000 per tonne but this year prices touched Rs 15,000 per tonne while maize prices shot up to Rs 6,700 per tonne from Rs 5,000 last year.

Due to the increase in feed cost, the production of broiler chicken increased by Rs 6-7 per kg and egg costs have jumped between 12 and 15 paise per egg, he said.

The poultry industry was looking for government support for the supply of raw materials for poultry feed at subsidised prices, the absence of which may see more poultries shutting down, he said.