STRATEGY ▶▶▶
COVID-19 disrupts Bangladesh’s poultry sector
The Bangladesh Poultry Industries Central Council (BPICC) expects the supply and demand mismatch for poultry to continue for the remainder of 2020. It saw a huge discrepancy in the early days of the COVID pandemic with a 12-year low in prices which has so far only partly recovered. The current situation is seriously undermining the livelihoods of Bangladesh’s millions of backyard poultry farmers and small traders.
BY DR RASHED MAHMUD, ONE HEALTH POULTRY HUB BANGLADESH M
ore than six million people in Bangladesh are either directly or indirectly involved in poultry production. The commercial sector has ex- panded rapidly with commercial poultry farms
growing at a rate of 15% a year, providing a significant path- way for the country’s economic development and an increas- ingly important means of providing its people with nutrition. Poultry farming has also long provided a well-trodden path out of poverty for many. Researchers at the One Health Poultry Hub Bangladesh work closely with chicken farmers and wanted to find out to what extent the sector has been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. The main focus was on how the pandemic and control meas- ures were affecting the production, distribution and con- sumption of chickens and eggs. A group of 36 chicken farm- ers, traders, feed, medicine and chick suppliers, and others involved in Bangladesh’s chicken production and distribution network were interviewed between early April and early May 2020. The research findings illustrate the very serious impact that COVID-19 has had on this important and growing sector.
Damaging rumours In Bangladesh, the first human case of SARS coronavirus-2 was detected on 8 March. By the time lockdown was announced on 26 March there were 39 reported cases. To pre- vent human-to-human transmission, preventive measures were quickly introduced, including social distancing and controls on people’s movements, the closure of food outlets,
factories and markets, and the reduction of domestic and international transport. Rumours, particularly on social media, that the SARS corona- virus could be transmitted to people through livestock and livestock products, combined with the new lockdown meas- ures, caused serious damage in the country’s various poultry production and distribution networks. For example, poultry farmers stopped receiving necessary supplies, such as day- old chicks, poultry feed, vaccines and medicines, and the lack of consumer demand – caused by fears based on the un- founded rumours as well as people’s reduced incomes and their inability to access markets – meant they could no longer sell their market-ready birds at the desired prices. One medi- um-sized broiler farmer we interviewed said: “Never in the last ten years have I ever experienced this kind of critical situ- ation. I cannot sell mature broilers to middlemen, even at BDT80-90/kg (US$ 0.95-1.06) while my production cost is more than BDT100/kg (US$ 1.20)”.
Economic losses Farmers have suffered serious economic losses as a result. Preliminary research findings show that by the end of April approximately 70% of small to medium-sized broiler farms had temporarily stopped farming and trading. Although by June, half of these farms had restocked with day-old chicks, albeit on a smaller scale due to the uncertainty surrounding the likelihood of further losses. The plight of farmers in turn significantly affected the busi- ness of poultry traders, large poultry companies, poultry feed companies and pharmaceutical companies. A follow-up study in June showed there had been a 30-45% reduction in
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