Sudden death of lakhs of birds has rocked the poultry industry in coastal districts threatening the very survival of small and marginal farmers. As many as 40 lakh chicken died in the last six months, with half of the deaths occurring in the last one month alone.
Poultry farmers are already hit hard by skyrocketing prices of feed and falling rates of eggs. The unprecedented death of birds in different farms across the coastal Andhra districts has pushed many farmers into virtual death trap. Farmers are flummoxed as they are still unsure of the reason for the sudden deaths. Even veterinary doctors have not diagnosed the problem.
According to National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) zonal chairman G Ramakrishna Chowdhary, the worst affected farmers hail from East and West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Visakhapatnam districts, where about 40 lakh birds died in the last six months.
In the last one month alone 20 lakh birds died in poultry farms located in East and West Godavari districts. The farms in areas surrounding Tanuku in West Godavari, and Amalapuram in East Godavari, are the worst affected.
There is no mechanism to monitor the number of bird deaths. But Chowdhary believes that 40 lakh is a conservative estimate based on reports he has received from poultry farms. A thorough probe into the issue would put the number of deaths anywhere around 90 lakh birds.
K Narayana Raju, a farmer from West Godavari, points out that the birds die all of a sudden. The birds are usually in a healthy condition, but if one of them dies, other chickens in the cage too die within a few hours. “It has become a big headache for us as we do not know what medicine to administer. Even veterinarians are not sure of how to deal with the problem,” he said.
Confirming the large number of chicken deaths, Andhra Pradesh Poultry Farmers Association, executive committee member MCH Venkataraju said “Farmers are unsure of the reason for the sudden death of birds. We have heard that some private agencies have taken samples for testing, but we do not know what happened to the results”.
Venkataraju estimated that poultry farmers in the region had lost close to Rs 4 crore.
Chowdhary said the reports of the first chicken deaths started trickling in November 2012. But, farmers suspected that the cool climatic conditions could have played a factor.
Dr Gnaneswar Rao, joint director of Animal Husbandry Department, West Godavari, denied having received any complaints of bird deaths from farmers. He said veterinarians take care of birds in various hatcheries operating in the district.
With poultry farmers already hit by soaring feed prices and reducing rates of eggs, Venkataraju said the sector is badly affected. Farmers do not get even the minimum returns. He demanded that government should intervene and provide a moratorium on repayment of interest and loan installments until the poultry industry is able to wade through the crisis.
He also pointed out that wheat, rice or paddy, damaged during storage in warehouses, can be released to poultry farmers at a subsidised rate.
No comments:
Post a Comment