Poultry industry have suffered serious economic losses for price fluctuation of egg and poultry meat due to coronavirus pandemic.
A research findings show that by the end of April approximately 70% of small to medium-sized broiler farms had temporarily stopped farming and trading.
The plight of farmers in turn significantly affected the business of poultry traders, large poultry companies, poultry feed companies and pharmaceutical companies, sources said.
Since the pandemic, farm eggs have been selling at up to BDT4-5.5 each at farm level in Bangladesh, against production costs of at least BDT6. The average price of a farm egg was BDT7-8 before the pandemic. The production cost per kilo of broiler meat was BDT95-100 while post-pandemic farmers had to sell wholesale for only BDT65-70 Farmers who run their farms by taking credit from the feed dealers have fallen deeper into debt.
The current situation is seriously undermining the livelihoods of Bangladesh’s millions of backyard poultry farmers and small traders. About 90% of rural Bangladeshi households keep poultry, the practice being recognised as a major route out of poverty, particularly for poor, landless women. In April, BPICC anticipated that with no improvement in the Covid-19 situation, more than 2 million people in the poultry industry would become unemployed in the next couple of months.
More than 6 million people in Bangladesh are either directly or indirectly involved in poultry production. The commercial sector has expanded rapidly with commercial poultry farms growing at a rate of 15% a year, providing a significant pathway for the country’s economic development and an increasingly important means of providing its people with nutrition. Poultry farming has also long provided a well-trodden path out of poverty for many.