From Kerala to Maharashtra and Gujarat to Uttar Pradesh, prices of poultry products such as meat and eggs have taken a beating over the past couple of days as consumers have started shunning them amid scare of bird flu.
According to poultry traders association, the wholesale price of chicken was Rs 90 and Rs 100 a kg till last week, it is now being sold for Rs 50-60 a kg. Even the consumption is down by 50 per cent, it said.
In Delhi, egg dealers said the sale of eggs has dropped from 200-300 trays per day to just 100-150 per day in the last two days. According to the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, the presence of avian influenza or bird flu has been confirmed in seven States so far.
On Saturday, the bird flu was confirmed in several districts of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. In a State report, the Ministry said bird flu confirmed in migratory birds were reported in Shivpuri, Rajgarh, Shajapur, Agar, Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh, Zoological Park, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh and Pratapgarh and Dausa districts of Rajasthan. Bird flu was also confirmed in two poultry farms of Panchkula district, Haryana. At least 900 hens have died at a poultry farm in Murumba village in Parbhani district of Maharashtra.
Poultry traders said the daily consumption of chicken in north India is 2.5 crore kg to 3 crore kg. Egg prices in Mumbai have dropped to Rs 5.45 from Rs 5.65 for the last two days, while in Delhi they have slipped to Rs 5.55 per egg from Rs 6.00 on January 2 and Rs 5.65 on January 4. Wholesale prices of live bird also dropped by Rs 20-30 per kg. “In just the last two days, the sale per day has come down to Rs 2,000 from Rs 8,000,” informed a chicken soup owner in Delhi.
The industry, though, is confident of recovering from the setback within 8-10 days as India has always succeeded in preventing any major outbreak of bird flu.
“Reports of unusual mortality of birds have been received from State of Chhattisgarh in the night of 08/01/2021 and morning of 09/01/2021 in poultry and wild birds in Balod district, Chhattisgarh. The State has constituted RRT teams for emergency situation and also sent the samples to designated laboratory. Further, reports of unusual mortality in ducks have also been received from Sanjay lake, Delhi. Samples have been sent to the designated laboratory for testing. Samples of dead crows have also been sent to NIHSAD from Mumbai, Thane, Dapoli, Parbhani and Beed districts of Maharashtra for confirmation of Avian Influenza,” the Ministry said.
Meanwhile, five crows were found dead in a drain in the Sitabpur area in Uttarakhand’s Pauri Garhwal district. Samples of the dead birds have been sent to a laboratory in Bhopal for testing. Over 350 birds were reported dead in Rajasthan on Saturday, taking the death count to 2,512.
A drive to cull over 1.60 lakh poultry birds at five poultry farms commenced in Haryana’s Panchkula district on Saturday. The move comes after samples of some birds in two poultry farms at Kheri and Ganauli villages in Panchkula tested positive for the H5N8 strain of avian flu on Friday. “The process (to cull birds) started by the State’s animal husbandry department,” Panchkula Deputy Commissioner MK Ahuja said.
The Ministry said that Chief Secretaries / administrators were requested to arrange to issue appropriate advisories to quell consumer reactions, affected by rumors and increase awareness regarding safety of poultry or poultry products that are safe for consumption following boiling/cooking procedures.
