August 23, 2004

 

 

Malaysian Poultry Farmers Suffer Big Losses
 

Malaysia's poultry farmers claim they are losing up to RM2 million (around S$905,000) a day since Singapore stopped importing chicken, eggs and ducks following the discovery of the deadly bird flu in Pasir Pekan, a village in Kelantan.

 

Only 10 per cent of Malaysia's daily production of 1.1 million birds is exported to Singapore. But some farmers are already culling day-old chicks and most are cutting production in anticipation of a fall in local demand.

 

They have also put forward a worst-case scenario that has been seen in other Asian countries previously hit by bird flu outbreaks - the decimation of the entire industry.

 

"I think the authorities have been too sensitive. It was just a single isolated case in a backyard farm. This will badly affect the commercial farms," Datuk Dr Lee Chong Meng, adviser to the Selangor Livestock Farmers Association, told The Straits Times.

 

He has suggested that the authorities set up a buffer zone to cut off the affected area in Kelantan from unaffected commercial farms. This would help persuade the public and the Singapore authorities that the case was isolated, and poultry from commercial farms was safe, he explained.

 

He said chicken and egg prices would drop drastically if Singapore maintains its ban on Malaysian poultry for a long period.

 

There has been no major fluctuation in chicken or egg demand here yet, but this may change in the next few days.

 

Most commercial farmers are upset that their business has been affected, even though they had taken all necessary precautions in ensuring that their livestock was not infected by bird flu.

 

Mr Abdul Rahman Mohammed Saleh, executive consultant for the Livestock Farmers' Associations of Malaysia, said yesterday that the hardest hit of the farms are the 500 in Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan and Selangor that export 130,000 chickens and 2.3 million eggs a day to Singapore.

 

He was quoted by the New Straits Times newspaper as saying that the farms had been advised to sell their cancelled consignments in local towns. 'We have to sell the chickens two or three days after maturity as they will be overweight and decrease in value afterwards,' he said.

 

Farmers are bracing themselves for the worst.

 

The Johor State Poultry and Livestock Farmers Association has told its members to start making contingency plans if the Singapore ban is not lifted soon.

 

The association's chairman Ching Tong Joy said excess domestic supply could undermine prices dramatically in the next few days.

 

'If the problem is not resolved within six months, the entire industry in Johor would be wiped out,' he said.