Egg body calls for poultry zoning

The National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC) has renewed its demand that the government immediately put in place a process of zoning poultry farming areas in the country. The demand follows a case of avian influenza (bird flu) being detected in Manipur.

A statement issued by the NECC on Wednesday said the chickens concerned in the Manipur case appeared to be supplied by a Maharashtra-based hatchery. The domestic poultry sector was entirely handled by the private sector, whereas a tiny (0.25 per cent) part of the sector was in state domain, the statement added. The Manipur case might not have any widespread implications, the poultry body indicated.

The zoning of poultry pockets in the country would ensure that the poultry business in the rest of the country went on unhindered even if a remote corner was affected by the disease, the NECC argued. This would also prevent any impact on poultry product exports, it added.

The statement pointed out that every country in the world that exported poultry products, including China, Malaysia and even a small country such as Zimbabwe, had created separate zones within their countries. "India, which is much larger and is almost a continent, is the only country in the world that exports poultry products, but has not done the zoning, even after we lost considerably on exports due to bird flu last year," the statement said.

Unless zoning was undertaken and safety of each zone was announced, incidents such as the one in Manipur would impact the poultry industry in the country's largest egg-exporting state, Tamil Nadu, which is so far away, the statement cited as an example. Not only farmers of Tamil Nadu, but those all over the country would incur losses as an end to egg exports would lead to an unmanageable surplus and result in a drastic fall of farm-gate prices, the statement said.

Similar appeals were made in the last year's deadly spell of bird flu, but no action was taken, it pointed out. Many units had still not recovered from the huge financial hit they took last year, the NECC added.