March 6, 2006

Sri Lanka reverses ban on Indian poultry feed

Sri Lanka lifted a ban on Indian poultry feed imports following safety assurances , All Island Poultry Association Chairman D D Wanasinghe said.

Sri Lanka last week banned Indian maize after avian flu was reported in Maharashtra and Gujarat, leaving panicked farmers with only two weeks of feedstock.

India supplies 90 percent of Sri Lanka's annual requirement of 200,000 tonnes of maize.

Poultry farmers are also asking the government to briefly lift taxes on maize imports. Such a move will make it easier on farmers should the country be forced to buy maize from Argentina or other South American countries, said Yakooth Naleem, Managing Director of Bairaha Farms.

Poultry farmers have seen sales dip by around 15 per cent recently, due to bird flu scares, Wanasinghe said.

Over 75,000 farmer families and 200,000 people are currently in Sri Lanka's poultry industry.

Sri Lanka has no reported cases of avian influenza so far, but imports of poultry and related products have been tightly controlled.