Traders rejoice as ban on chickens is lifted

The decision of the West Bengal government to lift the ban on the sale and movement of poultry and eggs in the state, except in Birbhum and Murshidabad districts, was welcomed by poultry owners in the state.

The loss due to suspension of the trade since the the outbreak of bird flu has been estimated to be more than Rs 650 crore, said Nazrul Islam of the West Bengal Poultry Association.

According to Kajal Dutta, president of Kolkata Egg Merchant Association, "We do not seek any compensation from the government, but we expect some relief for small traders and farmers, who were badly affected by the outbreak of the diseases."

In the next few days, traders said, they would supply markets with carried over stock held in cold storages and on egg and chicken supplies from Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi.

The import from other states would continue for quite some time as poultry farming will remain suspended in notified 48 blocks and five municipalities of 24 districts of West Bengal for about next three months as a precautionary measure.

However, with the poultry farming remaining suspended for the next three months in the affected areas, and the summer approaching, Nazrul Islam of the poultry association said he felt chicken prices could shoot up to Rs 100 per kg in the coming months.

"There will be a shortage of chicken supply by March-April, as there are not enough cold storages in West Bengal, and generally the demand is high during that time. We expect the chicken prices to be between Rs 70-100 per kg," Islam said.

Each day, the collective loss of the poultry industry, which was close to Rs 5 crore prior to the ban, nearly doubled during the ban, adversely affecting the poultry owners, traders and farmers, said Islam.

The worst hit were the farmers raising chickens on the side, as the birds died of starvation owing to unavailability of feed, Islam claimed.

"It was necessary to lift the ban as loss to small traders and farmers is beyond calculation. Many farmers killed their own birds. Over the last one week many birds died naturally, as farmers could not afford to feed them," Islam said.

About 80,000kg of poultry feed was destroyed, while 3.8 million birds were culled in West Bengal.

Wholesale egg prices had dropped by 80 per cent to Rs 1.20 per egg, after the bird flu outbreak. Similarly, the prices of chickens dropped to Rs 30 per kg from Rs 80 per kg about two months ago.