July 30, 2007

Sri Lanka's farmers worries about ban on corn imports from India

Sri Lankan farmers are worried that the country's current ban on live fowl from India would lead to a ban on corn as well.

Indian corn is widely used for poultry feed in Sri Lanka. Live fowl imports have been banned since bird flu was announced in India last week.

Corn is grown on fields where chickens range and there is a risk that the grain can be contaminated with excrement carrying the bird flu virus, authorities said.

Any restriction on corn imports would mean the country's chicken industry would have to import from countries like Argentina at a higher cost, authorities said.

D.D. Wanasinghe, president of the All Island Poultry Association said that Sri Lanka normally imports day-old chicks and such imports will have to cease until India is declared free of bird flu.

He estimated that around 20 percent of Sri Lanka's day-old chick population comes from India.

However, there is no reason to fear that there will be any chicken meat shortage were there to be any restrictions as there are sufficient stocks of day old chicks in Sri Lanka, he added.