July 9, 2013

Pakistan's chicken meat prices soar to US$3.15/kilogramme

At the advent of the holy month of Ramadan, the prices of chicken meat in Pakistan have skyrocketed between PKR285 (US$2.85) to PKR315 (US$3.15) per kilogramme (kg) although the price should have been around PKR100 (US$1) per kg.

The unprecedented price-hike in the chicken meat is attributed to various factors but it is believed that the control of industry by few, absence of regulatory authority, non-implementation of the Punjab Animals Compound Feeding Stuff Act 2002 and non-participation of the poultry representatives in the price control committees are the causes of the price-hike at will by a few.

Pakistan Broiler Farmers Association (PBFA) Chairman, Rana Abdul Sattar, while talking to Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) here Sunday (Jul 7), said that the monopolist poultry industrialists were the main cause of the chicken meat price hike as small broiler farmers have lost the ground due to chicken disease, exploitation and losses.

The broiler chicken farmer said it is a pity that largest reared fowl in the world was becoming extinct in Punjab despite the fact that more than 50 billion chickens are reared annually as a source of food as meat and eggs.

The PBFA Chairman said that, in the absence of the Punjab Animals Compound Feeding Stuff Act 2002, substandard poultry feed had become major hazards in providing healthy chicken meat to the consumers besides causing financial losses to the poultry farms.

He said 50% to 60% small poultry farms were closed down in Punjab only due to poor feed, epidemic and huge financial losses which left the big industrialists with processing plants of big birds to dictate terms and fix the price at their whims.

He demanded the Punjab government to implement the Punjab Feed Act, 2002 so that the poultry feed producers could be forced to label their formula on the feed bag and constitute regulatory board under the chairmanship of the District Coordination Officer (DCO) or the Secretary Livestock in order to bring the prices down and bring an end to the monopoly of the few besides setting rules for the protection of the small poultry farmers.

The poultry farmer feared that the chicken prices might experience soaring trend with the start of the holy month of Ramadan if the government did not come to the rescue of the consumers.