Crisis in the poultry sector
by ANWAR PARVEZ HALIM
Eggs are selling at 26 taka per hali (four) in the market and broiler chickens at 150 taka per kg. Breeder farms sell day-old chicks at 50 to 60 taka each. Over the past three months the small farm owners have been demanding that the price of chicks be reduced.
With the price of eggs and chicks going up, and with Ramadan around the corner, the government took the decision to import these items. And, in the face of demands, the government fixed the price of chicks at a maximum of 30 taka each for broilers and 32 taka each for layers. But the owners of the breeder farms are not accepting this. They say that the production cost of each chick is about 40 to 45 taka and then there are transportation costs. So unless they sell the chicks from 50 to 55 taka, they will be incurring losses.
Mashiur Rahman, Managing Director of Paragon Group, says, "Unless the government changes its decision, the poultry farm owners will lose everything. Even if chicks are imported from India, these can't be less than 50 taka each." He says that after the government gave its approval, only four truckloads of chicks were imported. As there is not too much difference in price, no one is very interested in bringing the chicks from outside.
Other sources say that India is trying to capture the market in a different way. Venketesher, the Indian company which controls about 80% of India's poultry industry, has placed a 700 crore taka investment proposal with the government. Another Indian company Godrej ACI has begun business in collaboration with Bangladesh. They are already doing business in several districts of North Bengal, marketing eggs, chickens and chicken feed. Local breeder farms owners say that the aim of these companies is to capture the Bangladesh market.
Mashiur Rahman, Convenor of the National Coordination Committee on Poultry, says, "There is a move to destroy this flourishing industry in our country. The industry is hostage in the hands of middle-men parading in the name of agents and dealers. They have agitated the small farms owners. He blames the concerned ministry's ignorance and neglect for this state of affairs. Many apprehend that if this local industry faces a blow, India will monopolise the market.
Going back
Towards the nineties, farm-bred broiler chickens and farm eggs gained popularity and commercial viability. Private investment began to pour into this sector. Basically from 1995 the poultry industry began to flourish in no uncertain terms.
There are about 150,000 poultry farms, small and large, in the country at the moment. Of these, five are large grandparent stock farms, 40-50 are parent stock farms and hatcheries. These produce eggs, chickens and chicken feed. Aftab, Kazi Farm, Nourish, CP, Paragon, ACI/Godrej are the leading farms in the country.
Private investment in the poultry industry at present amounts to 20 thousand crore taka. About five million people are directly and indirectly involved in this industry. The industry contributes 6-7% of the GDP.
Engineer Mahbubur Rahman, Operative Director of Aftab Bahumukhi Farms, states that the weekly demand for broilers and layers is about 76 lac 50 thousand. But the production and supply is 55 lac 50 thousand. That means there is a shortfall of 21 lac chickens.
According to Paragon Group's MD Mashiur Rahman, every day 1.5 crore eggs are produced in the country. If every day everyone has even one egg each, the deficit will be ten times the production.
The entrepreneurs say there has been a 10% growth in this industry over the past 15 years. They say that with government help, investment in this sector will double in the next five or six years and the shortfall will be met.
Fazle Rahim Shahriar, Managing Director of Aftab Farms, says Bangladesh's self-reliance has increased in the poultry sector. Huge amounts of foreign exchange is being save every year. Medicines, feed, and other essential raw materials are being produced. Not only that, we supply eggs and chicken at a much lower price than in China, Philippines, Thailand and Pakistan.
However, eggs and chickens produced in Bangladesh are costlier than those produced in neighbouring India. The reason behind this, say the entrepreneurs, is that India produces all the essential raw material of the sector itself. And their government also extends all sorts of facilities to the industry. Bangladesh has to import the raw materials. The government has affixed a 5% tax on this import. This pushes the production costs up. The producers have appealed to the government to lift this tax so that the market will be affordable till at least 2015.
Cause of the crisis
The entrepreneurs also blame the present predicament of the poultry industry upon the caretaker government. Then there was the avian influenza or bird flu which also dealt a serious blow to the sector. It is still reeling from that crisis. With demand more than supply, the price of day-old chicks has shot up.
Many have been alarmed by the government's giving permission to import chicks and eggs. They say it is not safe to import chicks from India. If they have any sort of disease, it will spread like wild fire in the industry here.
The middlemen
The small farmers at the grassroots make the biggest contribution to the poultry sector, yet they can't purchase chicks, eggs, feed and medicines directly from the breeder farms. The breeder farm owners have hundreds of dealers and agents who act as the middle-men. The small farmers are dependent on them. The dealers or agents pay in advance for the chicks and supply them on credit. That is why when the chicks grow, the farmers can't sell them directly to the market. They have to hand these over to the middle men at the price agreed upon.
It is said that the dealers sell the chicks to the farmers at a much higher price than what they buy it for from the breeders. After 30 to 35 days when the chick grows up, the dealers buy it from the farmers at rates lower than the market price. The dealers also keep a wide profit margin on medicines and feed. It is not just the farmers but the entire industry that is held hostage by these middlemen.
The poultry farmers have started a movement and the big farm owners blame the middlemen for this. They allege that they are in collusion with outside quarters to destroy the local poultry industry. They are demanding that the middlemen link be abolished and that they do business directly with the farmers. Paragon Group MD Mashiur Rahman says that the government must come forward to help in this regard.
The owners of the breeder farms say that the government has livestock offices in all the districts. They can be used to help the small farmers in capacity building, to train them about poultry diseased and so on. The government should help the small farmers to directly avail loans from government banks and NGO so they can buy chicks directly from the hatcheries rather than through the middlemen.
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