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Sales of eggs, chicken drop on bird flu reports — Maharashtra to cull nine lakh birds

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CHECK UP: Government veterinary specialists at a poultry farm at Navapura in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra on Sunday. — Vivek Bendre

New Delhi , Feb. 19

A DROP in sales of eggs and chicken was reported in various parts of the country today following reports confirming avian influenza in poultry birds in Nandurbar in North Maharashtra. But broiler and layer-egg producers said it would take a few days more before the full impact of the development could be felt.

Reports from Coimbatore, Pune, Mumbai and Chennai said the drop in egg and chicken sales could have been between 20 and 30 per cent. Reports from northern parts said chicken prices fell by 50 per cent.

A weekly meeting of the egg and broiler producers tomorrow could decide on any price cut, which according to analysts, is likely.

The Centre has also banned movement of poultry in 19 villages and Navapura town in Maharashtra. And in Mumbai, the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, asked people to stop consuming half-boiled eggs. Although no human casualty was reported from Maharashtra, a 35-year-old woman and a four-year-old boy with fever and other complaints from the affected area have been shifted to an isolated ward. Their blood samples have been sent to Pune for investigation and its report, which is expected within two days, would confirm whether the symptoms are an upshot of the avian influenza.

The Union Government, to prevent the spread of the deadly H5N1 virus that causes avian influenza in poultry birds, initiated culling operations at Uchchhal in Gujarat and Navapura. In Maharashtra alone, nine lakh birds will be culled, while 49 farms in the vicinity of the affected farms have been ordered closed. A tight surveillance of other farms in the region has also been ordered.

Ms Upma Chawdhry, Joint Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, said: "About 45 rapid response teams (RRTs) have been deployed to start culling operations. The disposal of the birds will be carried out immediately and clean-up operations and disinfection process will follow thereafter." The Department had also initiated investigation on the cause of bird deaths in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, she said.

The poultry industry reiterated its charge that the Union Government had been hasty in confirming the dreaded disease and said it could lead to disrupting the livelihood of three million poultry farmers. Mr Vilasrao Deshmukh, on the other hand, said his Government would go by the report of the National Institute of Virology, Bhopal.

The Venkateshwara Hatcheries CEO, Mr O.P. Singh, told Business Line the State Government had agreed to collect fresh samples and send it to the High Security Animal Disease Laboratory in Bhopal, the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) and the Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory for another round of testing.

"We have been in touch with the State Minister for Animal Husbandry, Mr Anees Ahmed, and he has said the fresh samples would be collected today and reports will be available in three days," Mr Singh said.

In the South, with daily egg shipment from Namakkal region being in the order of 25 lakh pieces, the egg export trade is worried over the implication. But Mr Soundararajan, Managing Director, Suguna Poultry Farm Ltd, said the outbreak of birdflu would not have any impact on poultry production and the disease spreading to the South was "far-fetched".

The primary worry of the exporters in the South is that with the region 1,500 km away from the disease-inflicted area, poultry shipments could be generalised as being from a bird flu-hit country, as the importers of poultry products would not distinguish between Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh.

Export of processed egg may not be affected but table egg exporters could face some hurdle following the current development. Efforts are on in the South to get a certification from the Centre that the region has not been affected by avian influenza. A cut in egg production may not be feasible immediately, but layer bird growers may, in the wake of the current reports on avian disease, could control production.

Reports of bird flu hitting the country come at a time when the poultry producers were witnessing good demand. For example, chicken prices are currently ruling at Rs 36 a kg compared with Rs 28 during the same period a year ago.

(With inputs from Nithya Subramaniam, New Delhi, G. Gurumurthy, Coimbatore, R. Balaji, Chennai, Sudha Menon, Pune and Amit Mitra, Mumbai)

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