Poultry industry demands action

Mir Tahir Ali Zaid, Central Chairman of the Pakistan Poultry Association, made these demands at a press conference last week, noting that the low prices of day-old broiler chicks and live broilers is leading to losses of millions of rupees every day.

He reported that broiler-hatching eggs are being sold as table eggs – at a loss of 50 percent of production costs. He said that this price crisis is having a stronger impact on the poultry industry than the bird flu outbreaks of early last year.

Now that Pakistan has been declared bird-flu free, surplus production should be exported with government support to prevent the loss of billions of rupees and earn valuable foreign exchange, he said.

The government should also provide subsisides for poultry feed crops, such as corn, sorgum, sunflower, canola and soybeans, while making concerted efforts to increase these crops.

Zaid said that consumer education should focus on increasing local consumption of protein sources such as chicken.