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Poultry industry faces disaster

2 lakh poultry chickens die every day in Jashore following coronavirus spread


Bangladeshpost
Published : 27 Mar 2020 07:39 PM | Updated : 07 Sep 2020 03:59 PM

Rokonuzaman

The poultry industry in Jashore is on the verge of collapse due to adverse impact of coronavirus threat. Every day about two lakh poultry birds are dying here. These birds are dying as they can not be moved from the hatchery to the farm, informed the hatchery owners.

According to sources, though production cost of each chicken is TK. 32 , the poultry farm owners are now unwilling to take those chicken even free of cost. Again, the automatic production process of the hatchery cannot be stopped immediately. As a result, hatchery owners are losing crores of taka every day. At the same time, poultry and feed producers involved in the poultry industry are also suffering losses.

Five thousand workers and their families involved in poultry hatchery and rearing are in danger of incurring a huge loss now.

400,000 chicken are being produced every day in five hatcheries in the district. The hatcheries include Afil Hatchery, Kazi Hatchery in Jashore. The cost of producing a chick at a hatchery is 32 Taka but due to Corona scare, the entire hatchery industries of the district is facing catastrophes.

The farmers has stopped buying one such baby chick from  hatchery. The largest baby chick production company in Jashore Afil Agro Limited produces more than one lakh chicken every day.

Tofael Ahmed, Technical Manager of Afil Agro Limited said  eggs are placed regularly into the incubator machines to produce a baby chicks . One day old baby chick is sold to the poultry farm owners. The incubator is needed to wait at least 25 days to stop production. Once the production process stops, restarting of it is also costly. In that case, the hatchery will be completely closed. The company will suffer hundreds of crores Taka of loss in such a situation.

Khandaker Idris Hasan, Manager of Marketing (distribution), Tamim poultry Marketing and Distribution, the largest marketing company in the poultry industry said that the production cost of each baby chicken is 32 Taka but now it is being sold at Taka two only in the market.

It is also hard to find a buyer. Not only the baby chick  but also the layer chicken eggs and poultry feed industry have been affected. According to the information given by him, there are feed mills of Afil, Kazi, Chief, Pravita and Paragon in Jashore region. The mills are producing  7-8 hundred tonnes of feed every day. Feed sales have also declined as demand has dropped.

At present, the market is selling price is Tk 40-45 per kg as against its production cost of taka 100 to 105 per kg. The egg market is also on the decline he added. Five lakh eggs are produced every day in Jashore. Of this, Afil Farm produces four lakh daily. The cost of production of each egg is Taka seven and a half . Currently, it is being sold for at taka six only.

Market research has shown general buyers are refusing to buy poultry chicken because of Corona scare. Because of this, the farm owner and hatchery owners are not getting actual price of chicken and eggs. Small farms have already been forced to stop production.

Khulna Divisional Animal Resources Officer Dr. Aminul Islam Mollah said the poultry industry in Jashore has hit by the corona virus . Poultry meat and eggs have no harm but beneficial. There is no basis for the rumors about non-consumption of poultry birds and eggs during the Coronavirus spread period.