Johor poultry farmers to protest for poor feed quality

Nearly 400 poultry farmers in Malaysia's Johor state will close down for a month to protest against the deteriorating quality of feed and the lack of incentives from the Department of Agriculture.

 

Chicken feed producers were manipulating the ratio of ingredients to make money, said Johor Poultry and Livestock Farmers' Association president Ching Pong Joy.

 

Because of poor local feed, farmers need more days to achieve marketable weight for chickens, which requires more feed, he said.

 

Farmers had incurred huge losses in recent months because of poor quality feed and that promised feed incentives meant to cushion farmers' hardship never came, Ching said.

 

The farmers have been forced into a dead end and the only way out is to stop chicken breeding for a month to alleviate the financial difficulty, he said, adding that all members of the association are supportive of the move.

 

The Batu Pahat Poultry and Livestocks Association and the Muar-Segamat Poultry and Livestock Association are expected to join in, Ching said.

 

The protest is expected to begin next month, and could lead to a shortfall of about eight million to 10 million birds with the effect on the market to be felt in September.

 

Johor has about 500 farmers and produces about 13 million chickens per month, of which 45 percent are exported to Singapore.