Indian eggs, chicks gobbling up local poultry farmers
Monday, 11 January 2010
FE Report
The local poultry industry has been hit hard by sub-standard Indian chicks and eggs when the business is recovering from the setback caused by the recent bird-flu epidemic, experts said Saturday.
Poultry farmers said the import of one-day chicks from India, where the contagion prevails, poses the risk of spreading the avian influenza virus in the country's poultry farms.
Import of the chicks and eggs have been posing serious threat to the survival of the ailing local industry, which is reeling from the losses incurred in the last couple of years, chairman of the Paragon Group, Moshiur Rahman, told the FE.
The commerce ministry in a circular has recently allowed some 17 local importers to import 83 million one-day-chicks from India.
Mr Rahman said when the local poultry farmers and hatchery owners were struggling to expand their businesses after the two-year onslaught of the deadly bird-flu, permission for import of non-certified one-day-chicks from India had severely affected their development.
He said: "According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, India is yet to recover from the bird-flu epidemic. So, how can the government allow import of poultry from that country?"
He also said the fisheries and livestock ministry had earlier imposed a ban on the import of chicks and eggs from India and some other bird-flu affected countries.
The attack of the bird-flu virus in the last two years had decimated the industry as some 50,000 poultry farms out of 0.15 million were closed and the loss accounted for nearly Tk 50.0 billion, industry insiders said.
Investment in the sector was estimated at nearly Tk 120.00 billion ($1.75 billion) directly employing some 3.5 million people.
According to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, there are about 150,000 poultry farms in Bangladesh, which produce 320,000 tonnes of meat and over five million eggs annually.
Syed Kaisar Kabir, president of the Breeders Association of Bangladesh, said many bird-flu affected entrepreneurs had started running their businesses on the government assurance of financial support sixth months back.
"But their initiatives have received a double blow as the government is yet to provide any monetary inducement. Rather, it allowed non-certified chicks and eggs to be imported from India," he added.
The local poultry industry has been hit hard by sub-standard Indian chicks and eggs when the business is recovering from the setback caused by the recent bird-flu epidemic, experts said Saturday.
Poultry farmers said the import of one-day chicks from India, where the contagion prevails, poses the risk of spreading the avian influenza virus in the country's poultry farms.
Import of the chicks and eggs have been posing serious threat to the survival of the ailing local industry, which is reeling from the losses incurred in the last couple of years, chairman of the Paragon Group, Moshiur Rahman, told the FE.
The commerce ministry in a circular has recently allowed some 17 local importers to import 83 million one-day-chicks from India.
Mr Rahman said when the local poultry farmers and hatchery owners were struggling to expand their businesses after the two-year onslaught of the deadly bird-flu, permission for import of non-certified one-day-chicks from India had severely affected their development.
He said: "According to the World Organisation for Animal Health, India is yet to recover from the bird-flu epidemic. So, how can the government allow import of poultry from that country?"
He also said the fisheries and livestock ministry had earlier imposed a ban on the import of chicks and eggs from India and some other bird-flu affected countries.
The attack of the bird-flu virus in the last two years had decimated the industry as some 50,000 poultry farms out of 0.15 million were closed and the loss accounted for nearly Tk 50.0 billion, industry insiders said.
Investment in the sector was estimated at nearly Tk 120.00 billion ($1.75 billion) directly employing some 3.5 million people.
According to the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock, there are about 150,000 poultry farms in Bangladesh, which produce 320,000 tonnes of meat and over five million eggs annually.
Syed Kaisar Kabir, president of the Breeders Association of Bangladesh, said many bird-flu affected entrepreneurs had started running their businesses on the government assurance of financial support sixth months back.
"But their initiatives have received a double blow as the government is yet to provide any monetary inducement. Rather, it allowed non-certified chicks and eggs to be imported from India," he added.