Corporate companies produce almost everything the poultry sector needs, including feed, chicks and medicine. They also produce eggs and chickens, and most of them are involved in contract farming with farmers. Because of this, the country's ordinary farmers cannot survive against their dominance, and the companies are forming syndicates in the market to push up prices.

Making these allegations, the Bangladesh Poultry Association (BPA), an organisation of dealers and ordinary farmers, has demanded that corporate companies stop producing chicken meat and eggs and stop contract farming.

The association held a press conference at the Nasrul Hamid auditorium of the Dhaka Reporters Unity on Monday (6 February). Its president Suman Hawlader, general secretary Ilias Khandakar and others were present.

Suman Hawlader said the country's marginal farmers have shut their farms because they could not get a fair price for chickens and eggs. Of 1 lakh 60,000 farms, closures have brought the number down to 60,000, and even then not all of those have birds. Without marginal farmers, he said, the sector will not survive.

He said corporate companies now have a 10 per cent share of chicken and egg production, but they control 100 per cent of chicks, feed and other inputs. When they use these inputs to go into meat and egg production themselves, ordinary farmers cannot survive. On top of that, corporate companies are doing contract farming in closed farms by supplying feed and chicks cheaply, so control is passing into their hands. "This must stop. Corporate companies cannot be in poultry production."

The association's president said corporate companies should produce feed and chicks, and that the government should set up hatcheries and feed mills in every division to keep feed and chick prices in check. That would end the syndicate in feed and chick prices.

Explaining the story behind the abnormal rise in egg and chicken prices, Suman Hawlader said a day-old chick cost Tk 9 to 10 each on 5 January and now costs Tk 56. This is happening just as farmers are stocking birds for Ramadan and Eid. Last year the companies also doubled feed prices.

He said the cost to a marginal farmer of producing one egg is 11.11, one kg of broiler costs Tk 148 and one kg of Sonali chicken Tk 262. At current prices marginal farmers would get a fair price, but ordinary farmers have no chickens, and the profit is going to the corporate companies.

The farmers' leader also blamed weaknesses in the Department of Livestock Services (DLS) for the instability in the egg and chicken market.

He said the DLS formed a national committee of poultry stakeholders in 2010 for market management, but it has not been effective. A strategy paper on poultry feed, chicks, eggs and chickens was supposed to be prepared. The ministry then directed the DLS to implement the strategy paper within 30 days, and the department held a meeting on 5 December, but it has still not been able to prepare it.

The association president said that although the DLS has permission to run mobile courts at feed and chick producers, it has not monitored any company. As a result, feed and chick prices are being raised unreasonably day by day and marginal farmers are being forced into contract farming.

The farmers demanded swift implementation of the 2008 poultry policy and other policies for the sector. They also demanded registration of all farmers so they can receive government benefits, government steps on market management, and collateral-free loans for poultry farmers from all banks.

Also present at the press conference were the association's vice-president Bappi Kumar De, organising secretary Iqbal Hossain, social welfare secretary Mansur Rahman, Alamgir Hossain and farmer leaders from every district.

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