Poultry industry loses Rs 13 crore in eight days

Still smarting from bird flu that rocked Navapur, the Nashik poultry industry has once again borne the brunt of the outbreak in Jalgaon.

In just eight days the poultry industry in Nashik has suffered a loss of around Rs 13.36 crore. And with hoteliers refusing to buy even locally bred chicks, poultry farmers have decided to cull a quarter of their healthy stock if the demand does not pick up in the next three days. Hatcheries in the district too will stop hatching fresh birds by March 26.

Speaking to Business Standard, Uddhav Aher-Patil, vice-president, Nashik District Poultry Farm Owners' Association (NDPFOA) and chairman, Anand Hatcheries, said, "There are six hatcheries in the district with a capacity of 40 lakh eggs per month. Due to the current crisis, all six hatcheries in the district will stop hatching by March 26. This has caused a loss of Rs 4 crore to the district hatcheries," said Aher-Patil.

The NDPFOA has urged the state government to compensate their losses to enable the industry to survive in the district. Due to the bird flu scare, consumers in the district have stopped buying chicken though the District Collector has already announced Nashik district as bird-flu free.

As a result, the wholesale prices of chicken have nosedived from an average of Rs 35 a kg to a meagre Rs 2 a kg, and the retail prices from Rs 60 a kg to Rs 10 a kg. Production cost for a 40 day broiler is around Rs 30 per chick. This translates to a loss of Rs 28 per bird sold.

There are 2,500 poultry farms in Nashik district with a capacity of 40 lakh chickens a year and around 15,000 families in the district depend on the industry for a living.

Aher-Patil added: "The district's poultry industry, which was barely recovering from the impact of Navapur incident, has been severely affected by the outbreak of bird flu in Jalgaon district. People have stopped eating chicken. As a result, around 9,000 tonne broilers ready for sale are lying idle for lack of demand and feeding them is not economically viable. To manage this situation, poultry farm owners in the district have decided to bury 25 per cent of their healthy chicken if the situation does not improve in the next two or three days."

Before the bird flu outbreak in Jalgaon, the Nashik district would despatch around 350 tonne of broilers to Mumbai, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat at around Rs 35 per kg. Around 70 per cent of the broilers were sent to Mumbai, while the rest would go to MP and Gujarat.

"Now, MP and Gujarat have also stopped buying broilers from us. Currently, we are sending around 200 tonne broilers to Mumbai at a wholesale price of just Rs 2 per kg, thereby losing Rs 33 for every bird sold. revenues from sale of chicken in Nashik district itself has come down to Rs 5 lakh a day, compared with the earlier Rs 1.22 crore daily. In just eight days (March 13-20) the poultry sector in the district has suffered a total loss of around Rs 13.36 crore. Besides, 9,000 tonne broilers "� worth around Rs 31.50 crore "� which were ready for sale are lying idle for lack of demand," added Aher-Patil.