All Kerala Poultry Federation has called on stakeholders to end the ‘needless controversy’ over the rising broiler chicken price. Federation general secretary S.K. Naseer claimed that there was an “unnecessary row” in the media over the rising chicken price. He said the issues were familiar to all stakeholders.
He said the summer months saw several chicken farm owners in south India refraining from taking delivery of chicks considering the extremely hot condition. In some places, water shortage makes chicken farming a difficult task. Besides, many farmers have also complained of high mortality rates among chicks reared for meat. The reported mortality rate in some farms is as high as 35%. This implies that a farmer keeping 1,000 birds suffer large-scale loss.
Combined with the high mortality rate, reluctance of farmers to keep chicken farms running during the summer months results in chicken price going up. The rise in price was driven by shortage of supplies and was a common market phenomenon, Mr. Naseer added.
Despite the higher price, chicken continues to be affordable to ordinary people when compared to other meat items, including mutton and buffalo meat, fish, and sometimes even vegetables, he said. The price of chicken is around ₹250 a kg and the live bird costs around ₹160.
The federation also said chicken farmers had sustained losses a month ago owing to oversupply in the market. The price of chicken comes down with lower atmospheric temperature as more farmers take to farming the birds. Under these circumstances, stakeholders should work together to help the business, he added.
