Big companies in the poultry sector have looted Tk 520 crore from consumers and small farmers in the past 15 days by raising prices of chicks, eggs and broilers, leaders of the Bangladesh Poultry Association, an organisation of small farmers, have alleged.

They made the allegation at a press conference at the Sagar-Runi auditorium of the Dhaka Reporters Unity on Saturday.

At the press conference they said the companies made an extra profit of Tk 112 crore in the past 15 days by raising egg prices, looted Tk 234 crore by raising chick prices and Tk 172 crore by raising broiler prices. Ten to 12 local and foreign companies in the poultry sector are involved in this syndicate, they said.

Association president Md Sumon Howlader read out a written statement. He said the poultry sector has now fallen into the hands of a mafia ring, formed jointly by 10 to 12 big companies including Kazi Farms, Paragon, CP, Nourish, 71, Afil and Saguna. The ring wants to destroy marginal farmers across the country in a completely planned way, and through its planned conspiracy about half of the marginal farms in the country have already closed, he said.

Sumon Howlader said a marginal farmer now has to pay Tk 3,300 for a sack of feed, but a farmer who does contract farming with the companies gets the same sack for Tk 2,500, meaning the companies make Tk 800 a sack on feed. They make Tk 3 on every egg and Tk 20 to 22 on every broiler chick sold, he said.

He said the country's daily demand for eggs is four and a half crore, of which the big companies supply two and a half crore. By taking Tk 3 extra on each egg, they have made more than Tk 7 crore a day illegally, and in this way the big companies have taken Tk 112 crore from the egg market in the past 15 days.

"On the other hand, they cut the supply of broilers to create an artificial shortage. In this way they create a stock shortage of 19 crore 50 lakh kg every day, then release it and take Tk 15 extra a kg. Through this, over the past 15 days, they have picked consumers' pockets of more than Tk 172 crore. And from selling 1 crore 30 lakh chicks a day, they have made an illegal profit of Tk 234 crore in the past 15 days."

The press conference was told that chicken and egg prices are not really set at the wholesale depots. The big companies have people at depots across the country, and the depots set whatever price the companies tell them to.

He said this process is not good for the country's consumers. Marginal farmers will face a crisis of survival, and people will have to pay Tk 20 for each egg and Tk 400 a kg for broilers. The big companies are moving ahead with that blueprint, and officials of the commerce ministry and the Department of Livestock Services are backing their conspiracy, he alleged.

The association's general secretary Md Ilias Khandaker, vice-president Bappi Kumar Deb and other senior leaders were present at the press conference.

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