April 28, 2025

Tamil Nadu, India poultry farmers allege lack of transparency to egg procurement price

Small-scale poultry farmers in Tamil Nadu, India, have demanded that egg procurement price fixed by the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) in Namakkal Zone be made transparent, as they claimed they were incurring heavy losses.

The farmers also submitted a petition to zonal officials on April 15.

In their petition, the farmers stated that the NECC announced the egg procurement price daily for poultry farmers in the zone. However, they alleged that the price fixation lacks transparency, allowing traders to approach farmers with their own prices, thereby forcing them to sell at lower rates.

The petition pointed out that small-scale farmers rely on daily egg sales to purchase feed for the following day. Yet, those who have secured tenders for supplying eggs to the mid-day meal scheme aim to procure them at reduced rates. Exporters also seek to buy export-quality eggs at lower prices, causing significant losses to farmers, they claimed.

The farmers further alleged that traders exploit this situation by reducing the price of large-sized eggs and applying arbitrary deductions under terms like ‘minus', ultimately buying eggs from farms at unfair prices.

"This is the current state of egg procurement, and we strongly condemn it," the petition said. The farmers questioned whether the NECC's role is to protect poultry farmers or to benefit traders. "Our demand is that the NECC chairman must declare the procurement price for farm eggs in a transparent manner — it should not merely be a recommended rate," they said.

They also insisted that the procurement price for large-sized eggs must never fall below the cost of production. Separate procurement prices should be announced for mid-day meal scheme eggs and export eggs, they added.

They urged that details of officially recognised egg procurement traders in the Namakkal zone be made public to all farmers.

- The Hindu