Poultry farmers urge govt to fix prices of products

Blaming the big corporate companies for the uncontrollable hike in the price of broiler chicken and eggs in the country's market, marginal poultry farmers have urged the government to fix the fair price of poultry products, monitoring the sector properly to protect them.

They also blamed the corporate companies increased the price of a broiler chick by more than 160 per cent in a month by syndication. Even the syndicate hiked feed prices up to Tk 3,500 from Tk 2,200-2,300 per 50kg sack in a year.

As a result, marginal farmers fell into big trouble surviving in the industry. Even one lakh Marginal poultry farmers have been out from the industry in the last year across the country, they added.

Marginal poultry farmers’ organisation Bangladesh Poultry Association (BPA) made the call at a press conference on Monday at Dhaka Reporter's Unity (DRU).

Speaking at the event, BPA President Sumon Hawlader claimed that the big corporations are controlling the market of broiler chicken and eggs as well as feeds.

“The government should break down the syndicate by stopping the farming of all broiler chicken, eggs, and feeds together. Now our production cost stood Tk 11.11 an egg, Tk 148 a kg broiler, and Tk 262 a kg Sonali hen due to increased feed and broiler chicken prices,” he said.

He urged the government to provide incentives to marginal poultry farmers to protect them, and monitor the market properly so that the syndicate can’t make unstable the poultry industry market.

He also requested the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock to be active in helping marginal farmers as they meet 90 per cent of the country’s poultry demand.

“The government should set up a hatchery in each division so that marginal farmers can get broiler chicken easily at reasonable prices,” Sumon said.

Ilyas Khandkar, general secretary of the organization, said the corporate companies increased a broiler chicken price from Tk 9 up to Tk 60 in January month. Why was the price hiked so much in such a small time?

The BPA vice president Bappy Kumar Dey claimed that the corporate companies took around Tk 105 crore in the last week through syndication. On the other hand, thousands of marginal poultry farmers are being forced to close up their businesses.