• Big trouble over chicks
• Magical movements
• Nocturnal journey, real and unreal
• We sang in the spirit of truth and joy
• Who can forget those film hits!
• Talk on Tamil theatrical heritage
• State literary festivals a big farce - Kala Corner
• Take a note of that note
• What's genuine?
• Doctors who kill not heal
• Convivencia: Jaffna-centric notion of living together - Book review
• Never overage to be undergrad
• That church in the Valley of Wolves
• Striving for a millennium of love
• A life of vivid pictures
• Don't forget the old and the lonely
• History with fury of battle and restrained romance - Book review
• Who's got the best word?
• Energetic, youthful voice for Asia
• Winds of politeness blowing in the hills
• No more a many splendoured thing
• What is bleaching?
• Letters to the editor

Big trouble over chicks

Achicken farmer in the northwest coastal town of Puttalam throws her arms up in despair and looks at her pecking and cackling brood.

"What do I do with these birds? I have to sell them at any price but there are no takers," she bemoans.

Elsewhere in the country, thousands of day-old chickens are being destroyed by large farms - to curb production and losses- as the chicken industry struggles through a fresh crisis that again threatens mostly the small and medium scale sector in the industry.

Chicken prices have crashed - far below the cost of production - since August and a kilogram of chicken is currently selling between Rs 90 and Rs 110 down from over Rs 130

before, due to excess production.

Oversupply and unplanned production by the industry has led to thousands of kilos of chicken meat lying in cold storage in the big farms including that of large processors like Bairaha and Prima.

The Puttalam chicken farmer - who has 2,000 birds - is virtually threatening to commit suicide, as she is unable to pay back the 700,000-rupee loan she took from a local bank. Her buyer has cancelled purchases due to excess stocks he is carrying. Though she is prepared to sell the meat at "any price", no one is willing to take her stock.

Many other small farmers are equally desperate and facing similar situations while defaults on chicken loans are on the increase.

According to official figures, the DFCC - one of the biggest lenders to this industry - has provided Rs 288.5 million in loans to poultry farmers in the past five years of which 168.5 million is outstanding.

"We are in serious trouble," confesses Dr. D.D. Wanasinghe, the tireless president of the All Island Poultry Association (AIPA), adding - "we have no quick-fix solutions to this crisis."

Chicken once a delicacy for the Sri Lanka palate is now a must in most homes which should be a boon to farmers but in recent times, the industry has struggled through many a crisis.

As it recovered from a nightmarish period when farmers destroyed eggs that were spoilt and sold their laying birds, when imported eggs flooded the market and when imported meat affected local prices, the industry is now faced with over-production.

AIPA's 700-odd membership is in turmoil. Particularly affected are the 75,000 farmer-families who depend on the chicken and egg business for their survival.

Dr. Wanasinghe explained that the Department of Animal Production alerted the industry in August-September this year of a looming over-production scenario through its news bulletins.

Analysing the import figures of day-old chicks, the department said they expected a 25 percent overproduction of chicken meat as there appeared to be an excess of day-old chicks. The industry's entire requirement of day-old chicks is imported from different foreign sources.

Dr. Wanasinghe said the association's members - like the big-scale producers - were also at fault as "they did not take this warning seriously."

Farmers continued to produce chickens without restriction, causing a glut in the market.

The oversupply situation has led to chicken meat stocks piling up in cold rooms. Wanasinghe reckons there are at least two million kilos in cold stores that are chock-full of meat.

With imports of day-old chicks continuing unabated, large chicken farms have excess chicks and in a bid to cut losses rather than turn them into full-grown chickens that cannot be sold, the processors are destroying the chicks at the rate of 120,000 a week since the beginning of this month, industry officials say.

The chicks are gassed and burned.

Losses are in the region of billions of rupees. Big chicken farms normally produce 300,000 day-old chicks a week and give them - on a buy-back deal - to small farmers and outgrowers at 30 rupees a chick.

After a 38-42 day harvest period, when the chickens are grown in size to about 1.6 to 1.7 kilos a bird, the farms buy them back at pre-arranged prices. Feed and other inputs are also supplied by the farms to small outgrowers, many of whom are housewives seeking to earn some extra income while at home.

Nearly 90 percent of the farmer-families are women.

In addition to the buy-back arrangement, there are small processing plants that sell direct to the markets in Pettah and elsewhere. Those buyers are now demanding fully-grown chickens at Rs 45 a kilo compared to a price of around Rs 70 a kilo they paid to the suppliers.

"Farmers are at the mercy of the buyers," Dr. Wanasinghe said.

Industry officials say improper planning by government officials and also segments of the industry has led to the present crisis.

At the request of the AIPA, a taskforce of government and industry officials was appointed recently to study and report on the crisis.

"One of the biggest issues is to see what kind of relief we could give small farmers like the woman in Puttalam. We hope to appeal to the government to reschedule loans, waive interest payments and offer other relief to tide over this crisis," Dr.Wanasinghe said.

While various suggestions were made at taskforce meetings on ways of tackling the problem, industry officials - including big chicken-meat processors - were not in favour of suggestions by Dr. Wanasinghe that the government should curb imports of day-old chicks and also restrict expansion of big processors until the demand and supply position is equated.

Dr. Wanasinghe's contention was that when large hatcheries, making use of liberal foreign investment incentives offered by the government expanded, it was the small farmers who were thrown out of business. While demand was stagnant over the years, the industry - particularly big farms - expanded creating excess production or making inroads into the market share enjoyed by small farmers.

While the print media has been generally concerned about the problems of the poultry industry and the plight of small farmers, the electronic media has not responded in the same way.

"I have appealed to TV stations to raise this problem through debates and discussions but they are not interested. This is a national problem - the plight of farmers. But the TV channels are more interesting in political talkshows and other issues," said Wanasinghe.

The Association is hoping to launch a new media campaign to promote the consumption of eggs and meat focusing on the highl nutritional value, particularly of eggs to raise consumption that has seen just marginal growth over the years.

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