Poultry farmers hit by short supply of feed

Recover 75% of the losses suffered during bird flu scare.

If the present market rate of Rs 39.50 per bird continues till the end of January, about 8,220 broiler chicken farmers of Andhra Pradesh would recover Rs 200 crore working capital loss they had suffered during the February 25-May 15 crisis caused by the bird flu scare.

Worst among the victims included 1,348 broiler farmers of Medak district, the highest number, 925 farmers of Chittoor district, 692 in Karimnagar district, 657 in Krishna district, 638 farmers of West Godavari district, 598 farmers of Mahboobnagar district, 403 farmers of East Godavari, 392 farmers of Visakhapatnam, and 342 farmers of Nizamabad district. The price of one kg of broiler meat plunged to Rs 6 during the crisis from Rs 35.

A Bucha Rao, Krishna region president of the All India Broilers Marketing Cooperative Limited, told Business Standard that farmers were left with a working capital of just Rs 70-80 crore after the crisis.

However, from May 15 till July 15 they managed to recover Rs 100 crore, 50 per cent of the loss. And from July 15 till November 15, they did not recover any losses. It had been a no-loss-no-profit business for them during those four months. But from November 15 till December 15, farmers recovered Rs 50 crore loss. They were now left with Rs 50 crore losses.

He said farmers earned profits as they purchased chicks at Rs 5 each. Now those batches were almost over. In a couple of days, the sale of birds purchased at Rs 14 each would begin. The cost of production in the first case of birds was Rs 25 per bird; the same in the latter case would be Rs 30 per bird. This would cut into farmer's profits.

He said the industry was happy as people returned to consuming broiler meat. This gave a boost to sale of birds. The central government too chipped in to rescue the broiler segment by waiving 4 per cent interest on loans. Bankers also postponed loan recovery by a year.

He said that the short supply of feed was now worrying farmers. The Centre released to farmers 3.3 lakh tonne maize of the stored 5.3 lakh tonne, the main ingredient of broiler feed, after Anuradha Desai, chairman of Venkateswara Hatcheries, persuaded it.

The government supplied maize to poultry farmers at Rs 454 per quintal (inclusive of transport cost).

If the government releases the remaining 2 lakh tonne of maize also to farmers, they would tide over losses completely.