On the sidelines of Poultry India 2019, Chakradhar Rao, President of the Indian Poultry Equipment Manufacturers' Association (IPEMA) said that the poultry sector is reeling under severe stress due to increased cost of production, particularly feed costs. He said, “In the past nine months, they suffered a loss of Rs 7,500 crore. At Rs 5 to 6 / piece, you may be thinking that the egg prices have hit the roof. But on every egg that you purchase, the producer is making a loss of Re 1.
He added that "Each farmer has lost about Rs 250 on every bird that he owns in the last nine months". Rao said that the industry can't take the cost burden if the farmers are forced to reduce the number of birds in a cage.
The event witnessed protests by angry poultry farmers who demanded support prices for their produce.
They alleged that the NECC (National Egg Coordination Committee) has failed to attend to their grievances. Demanding elections to the national body, they said the farmers in the egg production regions such as Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh were losing heavily because of the lopsided pricing of the egg.
A K P, who represents the Namakkal constituency in the Lok Sabha said, "The NECC is not coordinating well. They need to convene regular meetings with stakeholders such as farmers, farms, and traders to listen to the issues on the ground,"
Echoing the views expressed by the protestors, he said the egg production has been hit very hard because of the poor pricing issues.
Telangana Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivasa Yadav assured that the issue of support price would be discussed at the upcoming meeting of the Cabinet Sub-Committee on the poultry industry.
