'Poultry crisis will blow over soon'

Poultry farmers of coastal Andhra are not at all rattled by the steep fall in sale of chicken meat in the wake of bird flu (H5N1) scare gripping the state.

Their confidence stems from the government's stand that not a single case of bird-flu has so far been identified in the state.

The animal husbandry department collected hundreds of poultry blood samples from every district and sent them for tests, which showed negative for avian flu. They are hopeful of the crisis blowing over very soon.

Reflecting their optimism, N Nageswara Rao, regional president of the Andhra Pradesh Poultry Federation, told Business Standard that the farmers were, in fact, mentally prepared for present eventuality ever since avian influenza surfaced in Europe.

He said broiler sales had crashed by 25 per cent all over coastal districts and prices by 30-40 per cent.

"The impact on sale of eggs (layers), however, is almost nil. Anyhow, the state does not export poultry products to other countries as its egg and meat production being just enough to meet the demand in northern and north-eastern states, besides within the state," he added.

Rao recalled how the state poultry industry suffered a debilitating blow two years ago, when the disease had hit Southeast Asian countries, eventhough no bird flu was found in the state. The state suffered about Rs 150 crore loss at that time.

Putting behind heavy losses, he said, poultry farmers later took all expensive foolproof biosecurity measures on a large-scale and left no chance for the virus to enter their sheds.

As part of the measures, they had even forbidden the entry of visitors to poultry sheds.