More than eight months of slackness in poultry farming - that began following the first case of bird flu in the country - has finally come to an end, easing up supplies of chicken in the market. [break]
With improving supplies, price of chicken has dropped to Rs 235 per kg from Rs 250 per kg in the capital, the largest poultry market in the country whereas chicken is selling in the range of Rs 200 to Rs 210 per kg in Chitwan. Price of live chicken has also dropped to Rs 160 per kg from Rs 170 per kg.
Poultry entrepreneurs predict that the rise in production would continue at least by the till the end of this year. According to Nepal Poultry Entrepreneurs´ Forum (NPEF), an umbrella organization of poultry producers, population of broiler chicken across the country has increased to around 3.05 million in October, up from 2.76 million recorded in September.
Dr Til Chandra Bhattarai, poultry researcher and former president of NPEF, said the rise in production of broiler chicken would continue till at least January 2010. “We expect the population of broiler chicken in the farm to reach around 3.6 million in November and 4 million in December. The population will hover around five million heads in January,” Bhattarai, who is also the managing director of Pancharatna Poultry Group, one of the largest poultry producers in the country, said.
However, production of eggs has yet to rise as farmers are still reluctant to keep layer chicks in their farms, fearing another outbreak of avian influenza. The population of layers is estimated to be around six million heads across the country. Due to lower quantity of demand by farmers, price of layers chicks has gone down to Rs 55 to Rs 60 per head from Rs 75 to Rs 80 per head about a few months ago.
“Shortage of layer chicken in the farms has resulted in low production of eggs, pushing up price of eggs in the market,” Bhattarai told myrepublica.com.
Price of eggs in Kathmandu valley has gone up to Rs 220 per crate (30 units) from Rs 200.
However, price of mutton in the capital has yet to come down as goat traders haven´t imported goats for the last few days to deliberately create shortage and push up the prize. Price of mutton has reached Rs 450 per kg in capital´s market, whereas it is selling for Rs 360 per kg in Chitwan´s market.
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