The price increased by Rs 40 in a week to touch an all time high of Rs 310 per kg in Pokhara. Local vendors said supply of poultry products had dropped to half of the demand in the lake city. [break]
Madhusudan Koirala, president of local Poultry Farmers´ Association said the restriction imposed by Nepal on the import of parent chicks from India, the key supplier of chicks, had sparked shortage of chicken in the market, leading to a sharp rise in prices over couple of weeks. Ban on the import of chicks from India has continued ever since the outbreak of the avian influenza was reported in the southern neighbor a couple of years back.
“Most of the poultry farms are running short of chicken due to the shortage of chicks,” said Koirala, adding, “Pokhara will see acute shortage of chicken if situation remained the same in the future.”
Vendors say daily consumption of chicken stands at over 10 tons in the tourist city, where about 250 outlets sell chicken.
Bishnu Prasad Bastola, proprietor of Kanchan Stores and Suppliers at New Road, said his outlet was selling only a half of the chicken sold in normal situation. Bastola said he used to sell around one ton of chicken every day.
Not only Bastola, the story of other vendors are almost same due to dwindling supply from Chitwan, local farms as well as other surrounding districts.
Poultry farmer Koirala also said the lake city was likely to face the shortage of chicken during the upcoming Dashain and Tihar festival, when demands usually soar. Prices up chicken have also gone up in Chitwan, the largest supplier of poultry products in the country. Local entrepreneurs said they were selling chicken at Rs 225 per kg on Saturday, up from Rs 205 per kg a couple of days back at Narayanghat, the main trading hub in the district.
Janak Man Shrestha of Nepal Chicken Market Management Committee in Narayanghat said local vendors were importing chicken from adjoining Nawalparasi district to meet the demand. Supplies in the market of Chitwan have dropped by almost 40 percent against the normal daily demand of 100 quintals. Chitwan has been supplying around 100-120 quintals of chicken to capital every day, down by over 40 percent as compared to normal conditions.
Bidya Bhushan Dangol, proprietor of DG Poultry, the largest poultry farm in Chitwan, said number of chicken in his farm had dipped to 60,000 from 130,000 heads.
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