COUNTRY REPORT ▶▶▶
Coronavirus rumours cost India’s poultry dearly
Speculation and rumours on India’s social media platforms over a possible avian link to the deadly coronavirus have dented poultry sales and put the industry in a pickle. Government help is needed to prevent a catastrophe.
BY ANITA GUPTE M
illions of small poultry farmers across the coun- try are reeling after poultrymeat sales crashed by 80% following false claims that chickens are carriers of the coronavirus. The states of Mahar-
ashtra, Karnataka, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh appear to be worst affected with farmers resorting to panic sales and some even going as far as culling chickens. First estimates are that India’s poultry industry has been losing US$ 1.5 million a day due to lower prices since early January. More than 25 million farmers earn their income in some form of poultry business in India. The Indian poultry sector produces about 4 billion broilers and 93 billion eggs a year and has been growing at between 6-8% per annum. However, the recent crisis has severely destabilised the sector.
Seeking assistance Amid cries for help, poultry farmers are seeking government assistance, stating that the COVID-19 crisis appears to be more widespread in India than the bird flu outbreak of 2006 which was restricted to the western part of the country. Many farmers say it has become untenable to keep any of their live- stock since they are unable to feed them. That led several farming bodies to ask the government to extend some form of subsidy to poultry farmers who are unable to pay electrici- ty bills and local taxes. Some chicken shop owners with more than three outlets have closed two, saying it has become dif- ficult to pay employees’ salaries. “India’s weekly production of broilers is in the range of 750,000 live birds, or 300 million a month,” says Shankar Waghmare, a poultry farmer in Dahanu district in Maharash- tra. “With average production costs of US$ 1 per kg and reali- sations at US$ 0.33, the losses now work out at US$ 1.35 per 2-kg bird or US$ 405 million per month,” he said. A similar crisis was last witnessed in 2006-2007 when chicken
consumption was affected by the H5N1 avian influenza, Waghmare notes. At that time, the Maharashtra government had paid farmers US$ 0.54 for every bird culled. “This crisis is worse. The government should instruct banks to come to the rescue of the industry. This is an ideal time to announce a one-year interest holiday, as opposed to a mere restructuring of loans through rescheduling payments,” he added. The poultry industry in the state of Maharashtra has incurred losses to the tune of US$ 1.5 billion due to the coronavirus scare. Sales have slumped, especially since 4 February when rumours linking the coronavirus to chicken consumption started to gain ground on social media. Daily sales of chicken crashed from 3,000 tonnes a day to less than 2,000 tonnes a
▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 4, 2020
The poultry in- dustry in the state of Mahar- ashtra has in- curred losses to the tune of US$ 1.5 billion due to the coro- navirus scare.
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PHOTO: ANP, RAJAT GUPTA
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