The Hindu Business Line : Rains wreak havoc — Maharashtra poultry industry in trouble

INCESSANT rains and floods in Maharashtra have caused extensive damage to the poultry industry, with Raigad, Thane and Ratnagiri districts being the worst affected.

While the entire magnitude of the loss is still not clear, over half a million ready-to-market broiler birds have perished in the floods, leading to losses of over Rs 2.5 crore for the poultry farmers.

According to poultry major Venkateshwara Hatcheries, the farmer's woes are also worsened by the fact that poultry feed stock in their farms, worth lakhs of rupees, has been destroyed, in addition to poultry sheds and .

Industry sources say the total loss could be much higher and the real picture will emerge only when the water recedes and the farms in the remote villages become accessible.

The poultry industry has also suffered losses with export of hatching eggs having stopped since July 26, as consignments of hatching eggs worth Rs 1.15 crore did not reach the airport and flights to various destinations were cancelled.

Egg powder worth Rs 1.3 crore, meant for export to Europe, could not be moved from Hyderabad to Mumbai, resulting in loss of business to Venkateshwara Hatcheries.

Due to the breakdown in transportation, poultry feed and raw material for the feed could not reach the farms, leading to starvation of birds. Even day-old chicks at various hatcheries could not be delivered to the farms, and had to be destroyed.

"If the situation does not come under control in a couple of days, it could spell bad news for the small farmers since they are running out of feed stock," the Venkateshwara Hatcheries group Chairperson, Ms Anuradha Desai, said.

The Poultry Development Promotion Council will work towards helping small farmers by providing medicines, material and extending loans, Ms Desai said.

For the State's poultry industry, the recent years have proved to be lucky with the monsoons bringing down the prices of maize - the main ingredient of poultry feed.

But if the current crisis continues for long, the farmers will find themselves in the same situation they were in a couple of years ago when the industry was on a slide due to drought and fear of bird flu.

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