A month into the lockdown, poultry traders are still doing business at a loss. Broiler chicken sells for Tk 130 to 140 a kg in Dhaka, but half that at the farm, where it fetches Tk 60 to 70 a kg. In Dhaka broilers sell at twice the farm price.

Farmers say it costs Tk 110 to produce a kilogram of broiler chicken, yet it is selling at Tk 60 to 70, and even then they have to plead with small neighbourhood markets to take it. Farmers believe the losses poultry traders have suffered because of the coronavirus can never be made up, and many are thinking of quitting the business.

Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim had said at a press conference that every step had been taken so that the poultry and dairy industries suffer no further harm. Citing World Health Organization advice that nutritious food is needed to boost immunity during the coronavirus crisis, he said the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock was taking all measures to deal with the crisis and keep the supply of milk, eggs, fish and meat, the sources of animal nutrition, normal.

The livestock minister said the ministry had already written to all deputy commissioners, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Cabinet Division to keep production, transport and marketing of poultry, eggs, day-old chicks, duck, chicken and cattle feed, dairy products, other animals and animal products, fish, fish fry and fish feed running without interruption during the government-declared holiday.

But no poultry farm owner is aware of these instructions. They say that because of transport problems no trader comes to the farms, and they get no help from the administration. Instead, police create various obstacles when chicken lorries move from place to place, and drivers do not want to drive because of the barriers along the way. As a result not enough chickens can reach the cities from the farms, and farmers have to sell locally at a loss.

Md Khokon, a poultry farmer in Niamatpur, Naogaon, told Jago News: "I have 2,000 chickens on my farm. Because transport has stopped due to the coronavirus, I have to sell very cheaply. It costs us Tk 100–110 to raise a kilogram of chicken, but we are selling at Tk 60–70, a loss of about Tk 40 on every kilogram."

He said: "I sell my 2,000 chickens when they average two kilograms. Now I am losing Tk 80 on each bird, which comes to Tk 1 lakh 60 thousand on 2,000 birds. I have lost on two batches this way, a total loss of Tk 3 lakh 20 thousand."

Anup Dutta is a poultry farmer in Batikadanga village of Magura Sadar upazila. He told Jago News: "It costs us about Tk 105 to 110 to produce a kilogram of chicken. At this time of Ramadan, chicken should have been selling retail at the farm at Tk 130 to 140 a kg. We used to sell wholesale at Tk 120 a kg. Now, because of the coronavirus, a kilogram sells wholesale for Tk 68 to 70."

He said he owes money at the feed shop and the medicine shop, and has debts of about Tk 40 lakh in loans. "In this situation I am extremely worried."

Asked about the plight of poultry traders under the coronavirus, Dr Shamsul Alam, member of the Planning Commission's General Economics Division (GED) and former president of the agricultural economists' association, told Jago News: "Chicken, eggs and milk must be kept going, even on a limited scale, and given access to markets. The ministry concerned should act to keep this industry alive as far as possible while maintaining social distance, because if this sector is destroyed we will face a shortage of nutrition. We cannot shut everything because of the coronavirus. The ministry concerned must make sure that goods regarded as raw materials for people's needs can be marketed without difficulty."

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.