Hundreds of chickens on poultry farms in Matlab Uttar upazila of Chandpur are dying of heatstroke amid intense heat and repeated load-shedding. Farmers face severe financial losses, and some have been forced to close their farms.

A heatwave has been sweeping various parts of the country for several weeks. In Matlab Uttar in particular, daytime temperatures are reaching 38 degrees Celsius, compounded by an irregular power supply, with load-shedding averaging five to six hours across day and night. This has created a serious crisis on poultry farms.

According to the upazila livestock office, Matlab Uttar currently has 357 registered poultry farms: 315 broiler farms and 42 layer and native-breed farms. The office says that in the past week alone, 100 to 300 chickens died on average on about 15-20 per cent of the upazila's farms.

Waliullah Majumder of Gajra village said he had 880 chickens on his farm, 120 of which died in two days; more than 200 more died last month. With no electricity, the farm gets so hot that the birds get neither cool water nor air. If this continues, he said, he will be forced to give up the farm.

Saddam Hossain of Ghaniarpar village said: "Ten days ago I had 800 chickens on my farm. After 300 died at once, I sold the rest and closed the farm."

Habib Pradhan, a farmer in Phoilakandi village, said he has 1,000 chickens, and more than about 150 have died in the past two days because of excessive heat and load-shedding.

Babul Dewan, vice-president of the Matlab Uttar Poultry Association, said: "I supply chicks, feed and medicine to about 70 farms in the upazila. If farmers suffer losses, my business is also at risk. We are asking the power office at least not to cut the supply in the heat of the afternoon."

Wahiduzzaman, general manager of the Matlab Uttar zonal office of Chandpur Palli Bidyut Samity-2, said that because of a problem on the main line, power is being supplied through an alternative connection from the Kachua sub-station. Work is also under way to cut back trees along the lines because of storms in the rainy season, so the supply sometimes has to be switched off.

Matlab Uttar upazila livestock officer Dr Shyamal Chandra Das said heatstroke is not a virus or bacterium: chickens die when they cannot regulate their body temperature in the heat. Without ventilation, a shaded environment and water sprays on the farm, the losses cannot be prevented. In this situation, he said, the birds must be given plenty of cool water and a vitamin C-type medicine at least two or three times a day.

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