THRISSUR: Protesting Kerala finance minister Thomas Isaac's call to sell chicken at Rs 87/Kg, the poultry shop owners downed their shutters across the state on Sunday.
Shaji Mullakkari, vice president of Poultry Farmers and Traders Samithi, said broiler chicken is brought from Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 110/kg. This cannot be sold below that price.
He said farmers in the state who grow chicken incur an expense of Rs 85/kg. Additional money has to be spent on transporting it to the market. By the time it reaches the market, the total cost would have gone above Rs 100/kg. On top of that, the retailers further add to that price to keep a profit margin.
Thus, to sell the chicken at Rs 87/kg, without bearing significant loss is out of question.
The new pricing regulation would only destroy the state's poultry business, Mullakkari said. There are over 8 lakh people in Kerala who are directly or indirectly dependent on chicken/poultry business.
The Broiler Coordination Committee at Palladam in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore sets the price of chicken sent to Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
There is no infrastructure in the state to produce good quality chickens, forcing the traders to depend on Tamil Nadu. Under such circumstances, the finance minister's call to sell chicken at Rs 87/kg is unacceptable to the farmers.
Mullakkari said that going ahead with the government-fixed price would mean closing down all poultry shops in Kerala. That may push the prices up to even Rs 200/kg, Mullakkari warned.