CHENNAI: The poultry industry had just started to get back on its feet after the lockdown when the bird flu scare knocked them down again. “Ever since 2019, we have been facing many issues. It began with the increase in price of raw materials, followed by Covid and now, bird flu. When the lockdown began, a false rumour started circulating stating that Covid could spread through the consumption of chicken.
Due to which we witnessed a heavy fall in demand and people had to sell chicken as low as Rs 40 per kg,” said Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association founder R Nallathambi. He further added that lakhs of farmers in the chain are facing severe debts now. Following bird flu, the wholesale price of chicken has now plummeted to Rs 50 per kg, while it was sold at Rs 125 the same time last year.
Animal Husbandry Minister Giriraj Singh recently said there is no need to panic as there has never been any case of bird flu being transmitted to humans in India. The World Health Organisation (WHO) had confirmed that the virus will die if poultry products are cooked at 70 degree Celsius or above.
Egg prices too have drastically fallen. “The wholesale price of an egg fell from Rs 5.30 to Rs 4.25. During Covid, only two crore eggs were produced daily as against the State’s usual production of 4.5 crore eggs. The demand has been fluctuating ever since lockdown.” said National Egg Coordination Committee, Chennai, manager Ashok Kishan. It is not certain when the industry might bounce back, he added.