Bhubaneswar: Nothing seems to be going right for the poultry sector in Odisha. In the last 48 hours, the prices seems to have crashed. While the wholesale prices of the eggs in the State has dropped by around 15 per cent, the prices of poultry meat (chicken) is down by around 10 per cent during the last 2-days.
The free fall of the prices of poultry products in the State has started giving nightmares to the farmers in the sector, because only in November 2020 the prospects had started looking up when it has been treading like a chicken with a pip due to the pandemic situation.
When things were returning to normalcy, came the dampener news on January 9, 2021. The news of bird flu annexing state after state in the country and the death of over hundreds of poultry birds in Khurdha district around the same time were enough to make consumers in the State chicken out from consuming poultry products.
As per the data available with the National Egg Coordination Committee, the wholesale prices of eggs in the main market of Odisha (Berhampur) had dropped by around 15 per cent. The Price of 100 eggs on Thursday was around Rs 520 and that fell to Rs 450 today morning (January 9).
Similarly, the price of broilers saw a dip of over 10 per cent. The wholesale rate per Kg today across the State ranges between Rs 79-80 from around Rs 87-82 on January 7.
Ruffled Feathers
As per Nabard (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development), owing to lockdown and Covid-19 pandemic, the poultry sector in the State had suffered a loss in the production and prices. While the production was down by over 21 per cent against the national average of 19 per cent, the farm gate prices were down in the State by 20 per cent.
"The poultry sector in Odisha had suffered a loss to the tune of Rs 40-50 crores in the Covid-19 period. Besides lockdown, a big dip in consumption of eggs, poultry meat for the fear of contracting corona virus had dealt a severe economic blow to the farmers and other stakeholders in the sector," observed Prasannajit Mishra, senior scientist at OUAT and a poultry expert.
He added that poultry sector contributes around 12 per cent of the gross value added by the agriculture and allied sector.
The latest data available with the State Animal Husbandry Department shows that the sector has been growing at a rate of over 20 per cent, and Odisha has around 21 million poultry birds.
Odisha Govt Playing Rooster Games?
The State government post the Covid-19 shock to the sector doled out a package carrying incentives like more credit for the sector and waiver of interests on short term loans. However, the State government didn't give any attention on the price and procurement of poultry products to lend a booster dose to the ailing sector.
"The Odisha government has to intervene to give boost to the ailing sector. During Covid-19, prices of eggs and broiler crashed. The price of birds crashed by half to around Rs 35 from Rs 70 prior to the pandemic times. Prices of eggs also crashed to Rs 2.80 from Rs 3.40 per egg. Only in November, the sector had started winging up but the bird flu attack has poured cold waters over our hopes of recouping the income," said Pradyumna Senapti, a poultry farmer from the outskirts of Bhubaneswar.
He emphasised on the initiation of steps by the State government to prevent the crash down of the prices of poultry products.
"In order to rear 4000 birds, a farmer invests around Rs 38,000-40,000. The income a farmer earns amounts to around Rs 60,000. However, if other operational and labour costs are included, then in the current scenario a farmer will incur losses," Senapati claimed.
What Is The Omelette Then?
"Opolfed, the Odisha government's poultry marketing and supplier of poultry feed agency, need to carry out procurement from more poultry farmers in the State at a justifiable price," suggested Senapati. He further sounded a warning on the need to protect Odisha poultry farmers, because, the inflow of eggs and meat from Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh is causing huge losses to the native poultry farmers.