President of Poultry Farmers´ Association (PFA), Kaski, Kumar Acharya said the poultry farmers are lately tormented by as the fear of the bird flu outbreak looms large. “They are actually trying to sell the remaining chickens as fast as they can before the bird flu grips the district,” he said. [break]
“If the crisis festers, there will be a serious shortage of chicken during the festival,” he further said.
There are only 1,500 chickens left in Acharya´s farm though it can house over 3,000 chickens.
Rita Baral´s farm at Arba Vijaya VDC can accommodate over 1,000 chickens, but it houses less than 700 chickens lately.
And the list goes on.
“It is all due to reports of bird flu in various parts of the country. Due to the possible outbreak of the flu, I am not in a position to add chickens to my farm,” said Baral.
As the government does not duly compensate the farmers when the infected chickens are culled, most poultry farmers in the district are worried about the possible losses.
“We purchase each chicken for Rs 80. And if the chickens die from the disease, we have to incur a huge loss. So, until and unless the bird flu outbreak is contained, we will not expand our business,” added she.
According to PFA, around 700 people in the district are engaged in the poultry farming business, and a farmer has to invest over Rs. 5, 00,000 to add around 1,000 chickens.
Over 50,000 kilogram chicken is consumed everyday in the district and the farmers have invested over Rs. 25 million in the poultry business.
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