Of the 1,58,179 poultry farms in Bangladesh, 95,523 are now operating. The production capacity of the 1,58,179 farms (chicken meat) is 5,273 tonnes, but 4,219 tonnes is now being produced, which the association says is 25.71 percent below capacity.

Similarly, against a daily egg production capacity of 6,64,82,183, daily output is 4,32,13,418 eggs, which it says is 25 percent below capacity.

The Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association gave these figures at a press conference at the Dhaka Reporters Unity on Sunday (5 March).

The association said that with prices rising after the Covid situation and then the Ukraine-Russia war, in Bangladesh and around the world, public dissatisfaction over the retail prices of eggs and chicken meat is growing. At the same time, because farmers are not getting their production costs, some poultry farm or other is closing almost every day.

Reading a written statement, its secretary general Khondokar Md Mohsin said lakhs of working people have lost their jobs in the poultry sector since Covid, and many are being forced out of their occupation every day. In the 31-year history of the association's registration, the sector has never been in such a fragile state.

Explaining why poultry businesses of all sizes are closing at current egg and broiler prices, he said the cost of production in Bangladesh is much higher than the price at which eggs and chickens are being sold. The previous day the wholesale price of an egg in Gazipur was Tk 9.45, while producing one cost Tk 11.71, a loss of Tk 2.26 per egg. Losing their capital this way, egg farms are going broke and closing.

He said hatcheries unable to sell chicks are from time to time forced to kill lakhs of day-old chicks. Feed accounts for 68 to 70 percent of the cost of producing eggs and meat, and most feed ingredients have to be imported. For imports, dollars that cost Tk 84 are not easily available even at Tk 110. Higher shipping fares and the rising cost of diesel, electricity, transport and everything else have pushed up production costs.

The press conference was told that in mid-2020 maize cost Tk 17.30 a kg, while now, at the start of the maize season, dry maize costs over Tk 38 a kg. Maize makes up 57–58 percent of poultry feed, and soybean meal 20 to 25 percent. Soybean meal that cost Tk 35–36 a kg in 2020 now costs over Tk 84.

Prices of all poultry feed ingredients have risen and one or another is becoming scarce; the ingredient crisis is now acute. If LCs cannot be opened as needed to import essential ingredients, more poultry farms, large and small, and related businesses will close one after another, the association said.

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