Bird flu scare causes losses in poultry businesses across India

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Avian flu scare has resulted in substantial loss in the poultry business across India as thousands of birds died over the last few months.

The anxiety due to the bird flu outbreak has given a fresh blow to the poultry industry in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

"We have to lower down rates and are earning very little margins. Only a few people are buying chicken," said Sunny Kumar Sahu, a poultry shop owner.

Sanjay Kumar, another shop owner said, "We cannot say anything definitive about the situation except that people are believing in it. Our market has gone down by 50 per cent. But we're fine. We live with the chickens."

Bihar poultry business also witnessed a decline amid the spread of the avian influenza cases.

"The number of customers has reduced. People are sceptical of buying chicken and eating it now," said a poultry shop owner.

A similar trend was observed in Hyderabad where common people are avoiding poultry product consumption.

"The number of customers has declined due to rumours of the bird flu in the state," said Saheed Khan, owner of Khan Poultry in the Nampally market.

"I urge central and state governments to help us as most of phe Poultry shop ownershere will not be able to pay their rent. We had a major set-back during the lockdown," he added.

As bird flu has been confirmed in seven states, the Central government issued an advisory to the affected states in a bid to avoid further spread of the disease.

Central teams have been deployed to visit the affected states of Kerala, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh for monitoring. Furthermore, besides increasing surveillance around water bodies, live bird markets, zoos, poultry farms, proper disposal of carcass, and strengthening of bio-security in poultry farms have to be ensured.