Poultry sales decline as customers chicken out

Bird flu hits business, prices tumble

Avian influenza, or bird flu, that has created a scare in many southeast Asian countries, has hit the poultry and egg trade in Surat and south Gujarat hard, with the markets reporting a drastic decline in business volumes as well as prices after the news of the disease spread.

Chicken shops, which on a normal day averaged a total of 30,000 to 35,000 kg of meat, are now selling just 5,000 kg.

Fresh chicken was selling at Rs 80 to Rs 90 per kg before bird flu hit the market. The price has now crashed to an all-time low of Rs 15 to Rs 20 per kg, traders said. A crate of eggs which went for Rs 140 earlier, is now selling for Rs 90 to Rs 100 as customers keep away from markets.

In the congested Zampa Bazar in old Surat which houses one of the biggest chicken markets of the textile and diamond city, the mood is somber.

"I have not seen such a severe recession in my 30 years in the market," said Yusuf Memon of Yadgaar Chicken House, one of the largest chicken and egg retailers in Surat.

Yusuf said people were initially not aware of the disease, but the newspaper and TV reports have made people apprehensive. Anyway, this is a passing phase, he said.

To boost confidence among the people, chicken centres like Yadgaar have photocopied the advertisements issued by the government and agencies like the National Egg Coordination Committee and the Poultry Development and Promotional Council assuring all is safe in India, and pasted them on the walls.

Most of the chicken and egg shops in the market display these advertisements, which say chicken and eggs were safe for human consumption and the country is free from bird flu.

"People are not aware of the disease, its spread and the current situation. They go by rumours. That is why many of our customers have decided to turn vegetarians at least for now," said Faisal Memon of Sameer Trading Company.

He said the government should monitor the poultry farms and ensure that they were safe. "We also tell the customers that if a highly developed country like Japan was eager to import chicken and eggs from India, then the fact is that there is nothing wrong in the meat here," Memon said.

However, no government official has so far visited the Zampa Bazar area to take stock of the situation and provide necessary guidance.

Besides the poultry farms in the south Gujarat districts of Surat, Navsari, Valsad and the Dangs, a bulk of the chicken and egg supplies come to Surat from the poultry farms of Anand, Kheda and Nadiad.

According to Dr N H Dave, deputy director of the Intensive Poultry Development Project and one of the members of the district-level Animal Disease Emergency Committee, each of the poultry farm in the district is under strict supervision of the agency.

Field assistants have been appointed at the three main poultry centres in the district to monitor the health of the chicken stock reared in these centres.

"Surat and south Gujarat are safe. There is no bird flu here," he said. Dr N M Jagiwala, a senior veterinary officer, said though the government agencies and doctors had become alert and were taking due care, awareness among poultry farm owners and the people were very poor.