The Hindu Business Line : TN decision on noon meal scheme smashes egg prices

Ever since the State decided to stop providing eggs in the mid-day meals for school children from November last year, egg prices have headed south. Currently, prices rule between Rs 0.90-0.95 per egg from Rs 1.36-1.25 per egg in the producing areas such as Namakkal and Nellore. For the noon-meal scheme, the supply rate was Rs 1.15 per egg. Last June, prices had touched a two-decade high of Rs 1.55 per egg.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu had been buying 75 lakh eggs per week, which had indirectly helped stabilise the prices of eggs. Of the one crore eggs being produced in Namakkal daily, 10 per cent was being consumed by the meal scheme. The Government decided to discontinue providing eggs in the scheme on the grounds that the contractors had supplied ``rotten'' eggs. In some places, contractors stopped supplying on the plea that the Government-specified rates were low.

As a result of the Tamil Nadu Government's decision, these eggs are now finding their way into the open market and have depressed prices by at least 10 paise in the last couple of months, ``wiping out the entire margin of profit to farmers'', according to the National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC).

Tamil Nadu is also one of the largest egg producers in the country with the Namakkal, Salem and Erode belt having the highest poultry population, growing at an annual rate of 40-50 per cent.

Poultry industry circles feel that unless the Tamil Nadu Government reintroduces eggs in midday meals, the future of lakhs of farmers is at stake. ``Eggs are a rich source of vitamins, minerals and calcium. In a country like ours, where malnutrition and protein deficiency are major causes that affect the health, specially of the rural poor, the importance of egg in the diet cannot be overemphasised,'' the release said.

In addition, the poultry industry is faced with spiralling feed costs and unremunerative prices. India produces 37,000 million eggs. The poultry industry contributes Rs 12,000 crore to the GNP and provides employment to over 1.6 million people.

NECC had initially expected the prices to fall by 15 paise but the current situation is worse than what had been anticipated.

The fall is despite the industry's efforts to prop up prices through measures such as culling of layer birds and curtailing production.

At present, the market for eggs is saturated, and the additional supply has only worsened the scenario. Also affected are the related activities such as feed production and transport operations.

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