Pakistan - Bird flu scare hits poultry sector as chicken demand plunges

[sharon sanders]

Bird flu scare hits poultry sector as chicken demand plunges

By Tanveer Sher

KARACHI: Following confirmation of presence of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in a couple of Karachi’s poultry farms last week, the price of chicken meat has plunged sharply during the last few days.

The decline in the rates was attributed by the retailers and wholesalers to the dwindling demand of the chicken meat by the general consumers and fast food restaurants, road side and five star hotels.

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He claimed that the poultry industry may be pushed to the verge of devastation if the chicken meat prices further declined, prompted by the extremely lowest demand, continued unabatedly which would also render thousands of employees associated with this trade, jobless.

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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C02%5C06%5Cstory_6-2-2008_pg5_2

 

[sharon sanders]

Re: Pakistan - Bird flu scare hits poultry sector as chicken demand plunges

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Govt pays Rs 55m to bird flu-affected poultry farms​

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</td> </tr> <tr> <td> Saba Zeb
</td> </tr><tr> <td> ISLAMABAD: The poultry farm owners have been paid Rs 55 million in the recent days as compensation after the outbreak of bird flu.

"The government has paid Rs 55 million as compensation to the bird flu affected poultry farm owners during the recent outbreak of the virus," Animal Husbandry Commissioner Dr. RH Usmani said in a statement Thursday.He said 66 claims for compensation had been received so far from the affected poultry sector which had been provided full compensation for their losses.

He further said the government had allocated Rs 50 million for the poultry sector to fight bird flu for financial year 2008, adding the government would also provide basic safety education to the workers working in poultry farms. Usmani said the government had already launched poultry registration programme to simplify the compensation project, he said, adding only those farms which fulfilled the set criterion would be provided benefits.

He said the government had directed all poultry farm owners to have their birds vaccinated as per schedule, adopt other bio-safety measures and keep the birds in the farms according to their capacity.

He revealed the government had decided to pay compensation for the stocks of their feed to control the bird flu outbreak.

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http://thepost.com.pk/IsbNews.aspx?dtlid=151077&catid=17


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[Treyfish]

Re: Pakistan - Bird flu scare hits poultry sector as chicken demand plunges

Poultry farms recoup losses as demand rises
By Jamil Khan

KARACHI: Chicken prices have reached up to Rs 200 per kg from the recent prices of Rs 140 and Rs 75 per kg when the bird flu scare hit. Part of the problem is that supplies are scarce after farms closed down and demand has gone up for wedding season.

Pakistan Poultry Association?s (PPA) Abdul Maroof told Daily Times on Friday that supply went down in the last three months after the bird flu scares. ?The incidents of bird flu in different areas in the suburbs of Karachi resulted in the closure of around 40 percent of the farms, and losses to farmers of millions,? he said, adding that now, however, demand has increased in favour of the farmers. ?They can now increase their price and recover their losses.?

The City District Government Karachi (CDGK) Poultry Department has yet to start implementing the Karachi Poultry Farms-Control and Regulation bylaws 2007 and bind hundreds of poultry farmers to act upon the rules and regulations.

There are around 400 to 500 other farms (non-poultry) thriving under the CDGK and the poultry association which are unaware of the Karachi Poultry Farm?s bylaws. ?Not all the farmers are members of the PPA. It is clearly written in the PPA regulations that only those farmers can become a member who pay income taxes regularly, which most farmers avoid,? said Maroof.

Because these rules and regulations are not implemented, there is no check on prices.

The City Council, in a session held September 6, 2007, adopted a resolution demanding the implementation of the Karachi Poultry Farms Control and Regulation Bylaws 2007 at once, but even after six months the department has yet to do anything.

Arif Bhatti, the chairman of the Agriculture Committee, said that there are hundreds of poultry farms in Gadap, Bin Qasim and Keamari towns, and the union councils, in the past, have been given a 25 percent share from their licensing fee. However, this practice has to stop, and the complete licensing fee has to go to the CDGK.

The opposition members rejected this idea, saying it will deprive the union councils in the rural areas of finances. The committee gave various suggestions, including the implementation of hygienic conditions in poultry shops, registration of poultry farms, shifting the shops from residential areas, vaccinations on a regular basis and designing the shops to maintain a hygienic atmosphere.

Beside this, the city government also levied a Rs 500 per shop licensing fee, to increase its revenue but this has yet to be done. Bhatti told Daily Times that the task of implementation of bylaws was stopped due to the bird flu scare during January and February, in which farmers faced massive loss.

He added that the poultry department has finalized its preparations to conduct a survey and only orders from the DCO Karachi or the city nazim remain to be given.:tiphat: http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008\04\12\story_12-4-2008_pg12_6

 

[Sally Furniss]

Re: Pakistan - Bird flu scare hits poultry sector as chicken demand plunges

Bird flu haunts farmers
Poultry prices to rise further unless farming resumes on large scale, say breeders
Sohel Parvez

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</td></tr></tbody></table>Breeders yesterday said retail prices of poultry will go up further unless farmers now move to restart farming at an increased pace.

The warning came amid a slow recovery in the demand for poultry following the decline in bird flu spread.

But many farmers remain reluctant in resuming farming with bird flu still haunting them.

The recovery in demand has led to the rise in retail prices of broiler chickens over 10 percent to Tk 100 now from Tk 90 by the end of March. The price of one dozen eggs has also surged over 20 percent to Tk 65 from Tk 54 earlier, according to retailers in Karwan Bazar.

However, the breeders said the demand for day old chicks, meant for farming, remains stagnant as many farmers are still reluctant to restart farming after the bird flu took a heavy toll on the country's Tk 10,000 crore poultry industry.

A section of farmers are also in trouble in starting farming due to dearth of working capital, stakeholders said.

?The price of poultry will go up further unless farmers who had earlier stopped farming resume production,? said Kazi Zahedul Hasan, managing director of country's biggest poultry breeder Kazi Farms.

?Some farmers are re-staring farming but not at the expected level,? Hasan said adding that farmers now also need working capital to re-start.

The bird flu disease, which broke out early last year, has ravaged the industry leading to a loss of over Tk 4,200 crore and closure of thousands of farms out of the 1.5 lakh farms employing about 50 lakh people directly or indirectly.

?It will be difficult to meet people's nutrition requirement unless farming re-start at an increased rate,? said Moshiur Rahman, managing director of Paragon Poultry.

Moshiur, also convener of Bangladesh Poultry Industries Co-ordination Committee, hoped farming might re-start if commercial poultry producers get loans from banks at reduced interest rates.

?Rise in poultry consumption has pushed the poultry prices up. But we are still selling day-old chicks below production cost,? he said.

MA Saleque, head of Brac's agro and salt industries, however expected that the farming initiatives might increase now because of higher market prices of poultry.

?If the present price sustains for the next two weeks, owners of many closed farms will be encouraged to resume production,? he said.

?Our sales are rising but supply of birds are lower compared to the demand,? said Fazar Ali, who was selling each kilogram of chicken at Tk 100 at Karwan Bazar kitchen market. He said the demand started growing early this month.

sohel@thedailystar.net

http://www.thedailystar.net/story.php?nid=31747