NAMAKKAL: Poultry farmers in the sector’s hub of Namakkal are in a fix following the Income Tax department searches on Christy Friedgram Industry (CFI) and its associated companies in the last week.
CFI supplies nutritious food to 563 anganwadis in the State as part of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) scheme. However, poultry farmers charge that CFI has not paid them `50 crore due for the eggs supplied in the past week and they are wary about continuing to supply eggs when the company is under a cloud. The company reportedly procures 2.4 crore eggs from 400 poultry farmers a week.
Further, according to the agreement between CFI and the farmers, if the latter stop supplying eggs, they stand to lose 30 per cent of their pay. This has left them in a bind. Meanwhile, recently a tender for `500 crore to supply eggs was cancelled by the government citing non-submission of documents.