Poultry chickens are dying in Sunamganj from extreme heat amid continuous load-shedding, leaving farmers at a loss. They say it will be impossible to keep their businesses going unless the load-shedding problem is solved.

Abdul Mannan of Nayahalat village in the district's Jamalganj Sadar union started a poultry farm three years ago. At first it went well, but in the past few days of load-shedding eight to ten of his chickens have been dying every day.

Abdul Mannan told Jagonews that the first year of business went well, but then the pressure of coronavirus and repeated rises in feed prices put him under heavy strain. For the past two years he has tried to keep the business going at a loss. Recently, with excessive load-shedding, eight to ten chickens are dying on his farm every day, and the birds are also losing weight.

Belayet Hossain, a poultry farmer in Jamalganj upazila, told Jagonews that poultry farmers are very worried. Chickens are dying every day in the heat, and every farm has seen deaths from load-shedding and heat. Many have wound up their businesses and moved to other work.

Nazmul, a poultry farmer from Kashipur village in the same upazila, told Jagonews that a chick costs Tk 24 and then has to be fed and raised. Now there is no electricity for eight hours a day, and he cannot afford a generator. "The government announced there would be uninterrupted power at night, but where is it? We are not getting electricity. Now I can neither give up the business nor hold on to it."

Jamalganj assistant upazila livestock officer Dr Abdul Kashem told Jagonews that poultry farming is a sensitive business and temperature is the biggest factor; if it rises, farms will suffer. If a farm is without power for even an hour, broiler chickens in particular suffer strokes and die. However, water can be used on tin-shed roofs to keep the temperature under control.

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