NAMAKKAL: Faced with acute year-round water shortage in the rain shadow region of the Western Ghats, agriculture was never really a viable option in Namakkal.
When the first few tentative entrepreneurs struck gold with their small-scale poultry farms, it opened the floodgates to the mushrooming of many such units and, soon, Namakkal became the largest supplier of eggs across the south, earning the sobriquet of Egg City.
The merciless summer sun, following in the footsteps of a miserly monsoon, has not left Egg City unharmed. By a conservative estimate, around 50 lakh poultry has already succumbed to the spike in mercury levels. The production of eggs has already dipped by 50 lakh a day.
Namakkal takes care of the egg requirement of Tamil Nadu and neighbouring States like Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra by supplying around 3.5 crore eggs a day. However, with a slump in production, the supply has taken a hit, say industry sources. Though not a water-intensive industry, the situation is so grim that dairy farmers are knocking at the doors of the district administration for a nod to draw water from village borewells.
While summer is wreaking havoc on the industry, farmers are employing a marketing stratagem to mitigate losses. Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmers Association (TNPFA) president AKP Chinraj told Express that it’s normal to lose 15 to 20 per cent eggs and birds to summer annually.
“Normally, a meat chicken gains weight for sale in 35 days. However, in summer, that takes at least 40 days. It costs us anywhere between `2 to `3 per bird. Usually, eight lakh kg of meat is produced per week, but when dry season arrives, the demand falls down to seven lakh kg. While our input cost hovers around the same figure, the income experiences a fall. When it comes to eggs, 11 paise needs to be invested per egg,” he pointed out.
So what is the status this summer? “Due to drought, we are hard pressed to save the birds. We need to spray water on them regularly and ensure cool drinking water supply.
This is where the trouble starts. When we draw water from public sources, villagers object. This forces us to travel long distances to fetch water. Even 6,000-litre capacity water carriers cost around `800-`1,000 per trip. This adds to our cost, but there is not much demand for us to break even,” added Chinraj.
Tamil Nadu Egg Poultry Farmers Federation (TNEPFF) vice president Vangli Subramaniam backed Chinraj’s claim by saying that they are hard pressed to address the water concerns. “We do not know where to draw water from. The sector employs four lakh people. Many have lost jobs and if the situation persists, more will be on the streets,” Subramaniam felt.
The sector is also grappling with miscreants using social media platforms to trigger panic among customers. “Rumours of chickens being injected with steroids to make them gain weight faster are doing the rounds. Similarly, activists are raising objections to our confining birds to battery cages,” Subramaniam said.