The industry employs around seven lakh people across the state, whose livelihoods have taken a hard hit following the outbreak of the virus.
Around seven lakh people who depend directly or indirectly on the egg and poultry farming industry in Tamil Nadu have been badly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Tamil Nadu’s western districts of Namakkal, Coimbatore and Tiruppur are home to the state’s poultry sector which is worth several million rupees. The region produces around four crore eggs a day. Across the state, there are over 1000 poultry farmers, 32000 broiler farmers and around seven lakh people whose livelihoods depend on the industry.
Since coronavirus started spreading its wings far and wide, the poultry industry has been one of the worst hit in the state and in the country. One of the main reasons for the hit are messages which claim that chicken could be infected with coronavirus and consuming it will lead to infection among human beings also. Many variants of such messages have been circulating for the last two weeks, which have brought the egg and poultry industry to its knees.
Read: Fake news that coronavirus spreads through chickens hits TN poultry farmers
According to Vangili Subramaniam, the President of the Tamil Nadu Egg Marketing Society, the industry is incurring losses of upto Rs 10 crore a day since March first week. “Though the industry has been dwindling for the past two months, since March first week, the impact has been harsh,” he says.
Forced to sell at a loss
The input cost to raise a chicken ready for sale or export comes up to Rs 65-70, and the usual selling price for a chicken used to be Rs 75 a kilogram. However, due to the coronavirus scare, the farmers in and around Namakkal have been forced to sell their produce for as low as Rs 5-10 per kilogram. The story is similar for eggs as the farmers are made to suffer a loss of Rs 3 per egg due to the market conditions now.
“Due to this, the farmers are slowly opting to not feed the chickens properly because it is costing them more. They have been putting in money from their pockets, but it is not at all sustainable,” he explains.
Subramaniam points out that while a lot of messages have been circulating on instant messaging apps and social media about chicken and eggs being infected by coronavirus, but people abroad, where the infection is more serious seem to be okay with consuming chicken soup. He also says that unlike other occupations which can be redeemed after a slump, poultry farmers suffer more grave consequences in such situations. “Others like auto drivers or small shop owners can redeem themselves from such an impact. But we who depend on livestock farming cannot even dream of getting back up after a fall. Once ruined, our lives cannot be redeemed even after five years.”
State government must be proactive
When asked what can be done to help the poultry farmers to tide over the situation, Subramaniam says that the state government must proactively spread awareness about chicken and eggs not being infected with coronavirus.
“Our second demand would be that the government should supply eggs to the parents and siblings of the children availing mid-day meal benefits. We have a lot of eggs in stock due to this scare. We hear that the state government has taken initiative to supply eggs to the anganwadi children at their homes. We want the government to do it for mid-day meal schemes and also give them extra eggs by procuring it from us. This would help us reduce the financial loss and also give them nutrition,” he adds.
Pointing out that some countries have ordered the banks to suspend interest collection on their loans for a short while till the coronavirus pandemic settles down, Subramaniam says that India can also consider doing this since the lowest rung of workers and entrepreneurs will be the worst affected due to the virus outbreak.
Source: The News Minute