April 30, 2014

India's chicken prices up after mass deaths of birds

Following mass deaths of the birds due to an unknown disease, chicken prices, both indigenous and those imported from Myanmar, have gone up in Indian state Manipur.

Veterinarians said that they had heard about the mass deaths at several places in the state, however, in absence of formal complaints from poultry farmers, post mortems are yet to be done on the birds to establish the cause of death.

Reports say that price of broiler chicken had been hiked to INR220 (US$3.65) while that of the indigenous species had been increased to INR270 (US$4.47) per kilogramme. Furthermore, transportation of chickens from Assam and other states has reduced due to general strikes and other forms of agitations by a few persons in support of their demands.

Farmers who have lost considerable amounts of money due to deaths of chicken said that in absence of a diagnosis and medicine they have no way out. Many of them are contemplating giving up poultry farming. Due to the low cost of the birds, Myanmar has been the major source of chickens and ducks. However, following the outbreak of bird flu and other diseases, officials had banned import of table birds from that country.

Meanwhile those who are running piggeries and other animal farms are facing problems due to shortage of water to feed the animals and clean the farms. Government officials and the Irrigation and Flood Control Minister Ngamthang Haokip said that people should wait for the rains as there is no water source in the State.