Almost every main ingredient of animal feed has become dearer within a month, putting Bangladesh's poultry farmers under pressure. Md Mominul Islam, a poultry farmer at Panchbari in Dinajpur Sadar, used to buy 70 sacks of broiler feed a month; after two price rises he now feeds 60. His birds are not reaching their target weight and he is not getting a good price at market.

According to people in the trade, maize at 13 per cent moisture now sells for Tk 38.80 a kilo, against Tk 31.30 a month ago. De-oiled rice bran (DORB) has gone from Tk 26 to Tk 33, rice bran with 16 per cent oil from Tk 33 to Tk 39, mustard cake from Tk 36.50 to Tk 39.70 and soybean meal from Tk 58 to Tk 66. Maize that cost Tk 28-29 a kilo in the March-May season rose to Tk 38-40 in June, July and August, while the world price climbed from $235-240 a tonne to about $290.

About 80 per cent of the cost of making quality feed goes on raw materials, so when maize, soybean meal, rice bran or DORB rise in local or world markets, or an artificial shortage is created, feed mills cannot hold their prices. Swings in the dollar exchange rate and higher gas and electricity prices add to the cost. As feed rises, so does the cost of producing poultry, fish and cattle.

Hafizur Rahman, a poultry farmer in Bogura Sadar, said prices of various animal feeds had risen by Tk 2-3 a kilo in a week; a 50 kg sack of feed was up by as much as Tk 150, reaching Tk 3,675 at the top end, and a 50 kg sack of bran had gone from Tk 1,300 to Tk 1,800. Salim Ullah, a feed seller in Kapasia, Gazipur, said gas and power shortages were also disrupting feed production and that buyers were purchasing less as prices rose.

Medicine, vaccine and running costs have also risen over the past few months, but egg and chicken prices have not always kept pace. After repeated losses many farmers are cutting production and some are thinking of closing. Between June and September, farmers in Rajshahi, Gazipur, Pabna, Kishoreganj, Cumilla, Narsingdi, Dhaka, Kushtia and Mymensingh held human chains, protests, road blockades and submitted memoranda demanding cheaper feed, lower duties on imported feed ingredients and fair prices for eggs and chicken.

Russell Prodhan, general secretary of the Bangladesh Marginal Poultry Farmers' Council, said locally produced DORB and rice bran should first be supplied to meet domestic demand, with a temporary ban or strict controls on their export if needed. He called for lower VAT, taxes and duties on imported ingredients and closer monitoring against artificial shortages, saying cheaper feed would cut farmers' costs and keep egg and chicken prices in check.

The report is by Desh Rupantor's staff correspondent.

Source: Desh Rupantor