As a result of the Covid-19 scare and the subsequent disruption, small and medium businesses have suffered substantial economic loss. Amid those, poultry farming in Tamil Nadu is one of the worst-hit sectors.
With rumours spreading that consuming meat and egg will spread the coronavirus epidemic and the outbreak of avian flu in neighboring states like Kerala and Karnataka has incurred a huge loss to the poultry business in Namakkal, the major hub of chicken and egg production. Despite numerous announcements from the government and other sectors about the the rumour that eating chicken or egg can spread the virus, the people are staying away from poultry consumption.
According to reports, one kilo of broiler chicken which was sold at 150-180 per kilograms has now gone down to 80 rupees. Eggs that were sold at four rupees has reduced to less than two rupees in just a month’s time, a situation the local farmers claim they had never seen in the past 15 years.
Poultry farming is one of the main occupations of the local residents. There are 1,100 poultry farms in Namakkal, the district predominantly caters eggs to Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka in India and even overseas.
AKP Chinraj, Namakkal MP and the President of Tamil Nadu Poultry Farmer’s Association said he had a word with state chief secretary on Monday and hopes the situation will improve in the coming times. “The state and the central government is taking several measures to curb the spread of Coronavirus and we welcome that, however restricting the movements of the poultry industry in the lockdown period will cause a fatal blow. As of now, we have lost 25,000 crore rupees business all over India, every day our loss percentage keeps interesting. The farmers don’t even have the option to avail bank loan in this difficult circumstance, I am writing a letter to the reserve bank officials over this,” he said.
Chinraj added that the procurement rate of chicken has hit an all-time low this February. Since the demand for chicken meat is less, he says the industry has suffered several thousands of crores in the past two months.
Big poultry farmers have decided to store the eggs in cold storage
When asked about the National Egg Coordination Committee’s decision to provide subsidy for poultry farmers who opt to store the eggs in cold storage, Chinraj said “The option is feasible only for traders who own a big poultry form who produce close to one crore fresh eggs and even that is limited some 50 numbers and even it can hold only for a month, the small-time traders are left with no choices. Private cold storage houses will allocate a space of 400 square feet per lot how many farmers can make use of that area?”
Local poultry farmers say the traders are expecting them to sell the eggs at less than rupee and they are not sure how far they can run the show. Due to the lockdown, the schools in the state are shut and hence the egg supply to mid-day meal programme are left stagnant in their farms. The farmers expect the government to find an amicable solution to this issue.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, Tamil Nadu Animal Husbandry director A. Gnanasekaran says the government is taking all the necessary steps to strengthen the industry again. “We had been running awareness campaigns that coronavirus does not spread by eating fish or chicken or egg. The farmers are scared because of the lockdown and other restrictions the government has announced, they are worried about the already stagnant products. These products come under essential commodity, so we have already spoken with the district collectors of other states to make sure the stocks from Namakkal, Coimbatore, etc are reaching them without any interruption,” he added.
Gnanasekaran further said that due to the outbreak of avian influenza in Karnataka, Kerala the government has stopped the import of meat from other states. When asked about the demand of poultry farmers to provide bank loans to tackle the current situation, he said the government is yet to take a call on that. “Regarding the welfare measures, the TN government has not given us any directions; we will implement it once we receive the orders. All our Joint-directors and our health experts are regularly visiting the poultry farms in areas like Namakkal, Tiruppur and providing all the disinfectants to keep bird flu and other diseases at bay. All the vehicles from other states are disinfected and then only it is allowed into the district, the public need not fear about the consumption of meat and egg, we hope the situation will improve in upcoming days,” he added.